Muddle over modulation and decoupling (From Gazette & Herald)

Muddle over modulation and decoupling

THE only certain outcome from last week's 24-hour-a-day negotiations in Luxembourg has been a welcome windfall to its hoteliers and restaurateurs who enjoyed an unprecedented boost in their income at our expense.

For the rest, we will largely have to wait and see as the Brussels officialdom gets its teeth in to this pretty muddled compromise which has been worryingly hailed by the French and Germans as a victory.

We are thankfully to be allowed some breathing space, and the date for implementation of the reforms has been delayed until 2005.

The other principles of the deal appear to give member states a licence to decouple or not as they see fit.

In the case of the UK, Mrs Beckett will probably go the whole hog, so to speak, as that would be consistent with DEFRA's general countryside-bashing policy; but in France they are free to retain suckler cow subsidies and other support systems which could seriously disadvantage the British farmer.

A further spectre now looms on the horizon, with the establishment of the European Rural Development Fund, which is going to soak up the modulation money. Although some of it may be spent back in the country of origin, it is more likely that these purloined subsidies will be destined for the coffers of the new Eastern block member states.

I accept that there is still a long way to go, and it is easy to be critical, but I do wonder about the wisdom of rushing to claim a victory.

For some extraordinary, but quite propitious, reason the lunatic proposal to double-tag sheep has to be delayed because of the change in presidency of the European Union from Greece to Italy.

What that has to do with sheep tagging heaven and Herr Fischler only know.

Nevertheless, we have another breathing space to try to make the Brussels bureaucrats see some sense.

For the lay reader, we have around 40m sheep in Britain and the current proposal is that we need to stick a unique 14-digit number in each ear for each one; having done that, we then have to record it manually every time the woolly creatures change location.

The estimated cost of this useless exercise is guestimated at around £100m per annum or £15,000 per flock of 500 ewes

Our main ally fighting for common sense is Spain, so we will have to forget about the fishing fleet issues for the moment!

Listening to the news Monday night, there seemed to me to be quite a lot in common between the anti-hunting lobby and a pack of hounds.

The MPs were single-minded and tireless in pursuit of their quarry and succeeded in ripping to pieces the Government's compromise proposal which was heavily backed by the Prime Minister.

Despite the pleas from No 10, the parliamentary pack could not be called off the scent and the bill for a complete ban on hunting passed its first reading.

There are many sad things about this bigoted performance:

A little bit of colour and tradition will vanish from the countryside;

A lot of people will lose their livelihood;

Livestock farms will lose probably their last option for disposing of fallen stock;

A large vocal minority of British citizens have been kicked firmly in the teeth.

And all this fuss for what? A creature that is classed as vermin, kills for fun and is currently taking my chickens at the rate of two a week!

Being a Chartered Surveyor, I was aghast to read the Welsh Assembly decided to award a contract for mapping 17,000 Welsh farms to an India-based company.

The best ordnance survey maps we ever produced came out between 1909 and 1911 and their accuracy was legion.

In our business, it is so important to be able to rely upon the boundaries for accuracy and it seems to me false economy to employ an Indian firm which will have little understanding of the Welsh countryside and can walk away from the job at the end of it.

Boundary disputes are vindictive affairs at the best of times, and cannot be resolved as in days of yore.

Last evening, I was looking at timber in Sherwood Forest and we came across a giant oak tree which the forester explained was the "Boundary Oak".

It was so named because, in the 18th century, the Duke of Portland and the neighbouring estate couldn't agree on their respective boundaries so a 100-yard strip of no man's land was put between the two estates and this oak tree marked that boundary.

Today, the no man's land strip still has no title and no legal owner; how would the Indian surveyors from Delhi deal with this anomaly!

Forward on July 1 were 100 cattle; 710 sheep including 575 lambs and 135 ewes

Steers, light to 119p/kilo from W Chambers & Son, Marton (ave 102p/kilo), heavy to 112p from Mrs C Mason, Wold Newton (101.2p).

Heifers, light to 130p from G I Marwood, Harome (109.19p), heavy to 138p from G I Marwood (99.4p).

Bulls, light bulls to 111p from J M Bulmer, Kirkbymoorside (98.1p), heavy to 105p from D Burkill, Harpham (97.4p). black and white to 88p from A W Turnbull, Rook Barugh (83.5p).

Lambs, standard to 121p from D Fussey, Bridlington (116.7p), med to 129p from T M & J Abram, Westow (117.7p), heavy to 120.6p from E W Jackson, North Dale (118p).

Ewes to £56 from P M Allen, Great Barugh (£40.86).

Updated: 11:40 Wednesday, July 02, 2003