Foreign secretary is a man of Straw (From Gazette & Herald)

Foreign secretary is a man of Straw

I HAVE rarely seen the Foreign Secretary so worked up as when he came out of the EU meeting on Britain's much despised rebate.

Jack Straw spluttered out his defence of the money we get back, which still leaves us paying two-and-a-half times more than our Gallic neighbours.

His argument for clinging onto Mrs Thatcher's prize bubbled over into an attack on the EU budget, which he regards as unfair and not delivering the goods.

If Jack Straw gets his way and the rebate is retained at the expense of a revamped budget, then farming will be the loser.

Our real concern should be the impact upon the new agricultural support systems which will endeavour to cut the EU budget by 15 per cent.

As the CAP comprises a huge 50 per cent of the money, then the rural economy will suffer serious slashes.

Strangely enough, if murder is to be committed on agricultural subsidies then "'twere better it were done quickly" as the current Luxemburg Presidency vows to defend Pillar One support, which includes the Single Payment, whereas the incoming UK officials see it as an opportunity to sacrifice direct farming support for their lofty aims of the wider countryside environment.

If the budget is renegotiated after Britain takes the EU Presidency, then the Single Payment could be struck down before it gets off the ground.

I think I will buy the Prime Minister a Straw chopper for his birthday!

This is a pretty technical point which demonstrates the unreasonable timetables within which farmers are expected to work.

Those farmers who wish to make a claim under the hardship rules for them to be able to grow fruit, vegetables and potatoes in the future, had to do so by May 16; but the application form, SP10, was not released until May 11.

Even Deaf Ear realised this was a bit short and extended the deadline until June 17. After further representations, there is a new deadline for returning your SP10 form which is now Thursday, June 30.

Amidst all his troubles, Richard Machin found me an article in the Scottish Farmer on the law on the towing of trailers.

As the summer show season gets underway, here are some tips to avoid a pretty hefty fine:

All those young drivers who passed their test since the January 1, 1997, have to take a special hour-long test before they can legally tow the majority of livestock and horse trailers.

The trailers concerned are those with a maximum of 750kg MAM, which stands for Maximum Authorised Mass, and this is usually put on the trailer as its maximum weight fully loaded.

For the rest of us who took our test prior to 1997, you just need to check that your licence covers you to drive categories B + E.

The maximum speed limit is 50 miles an hour on a single carriageway and 60 mph on motorways.

You are not allowed to use the outside lane of a motorway.

There are various public health warnings about checking your brakes, lights and tyres.

If you fall into the young person category needing to take a test, then this will cost £80 during normal week days and £98 at a weekend.

I'm afraid it is not just a formality as my son reported a young friend who failed after an hour's test because the trailer indicator did not flash in the cab!

I got my quarterly survey of the land market this week and it reveals an interesting trend.

Leaving aside the boom in residential prices, the bare land figures have risen from around £2,367 per acre in March 2003 to £3,290 this spring.

There will be some distortion because there are very few reported transactions and those included may happen to be of the better arable land, but nevertheless it does indicate that agriculture's base commodity is still in demand.

In the rental sector, those with old 1986 Act tenancies have seen a slight increase of around four per cent whereas the more modern Farm Business Tenancies have dipped by about the same amount.

The Stakeholder Group has produced its report for the Government recommending pre-movement testing, initially on animals over 15 months of age that are in a one to two-year testing herd and the suggestion is that the age limit should be extended to animals over six weeks of age, eventually.

A dissident member of the group strongly disagrees and has gone to Press in no uncertain terms.

He is an outspoken auctioneer of very independent views called Tim Messer-Bennett whom I have come across over the years, as indeed with the chairman, Bill Madders, a level-headed Staffordshire farmer.

In many ways, I tend to agree with Tim that the report recommendations do not address the real problem; and it's like trying to turn off the tap to solve a leaking water main.

It's abundantly clear to every vet and farmer in the south-west that badgers are at the root of the problem in spreading TB; and unless some action is taken to deal with them, the pre-testing can only escalate in activity and cost which is already forecast to be £9 per head.

In case you think it only applies to the south west beware, because my latest missive from the Auctioneers Association have included maps of the spreading cancer of TB across the country, and it's getting horribly close.

Here is another snippet from my Sinnington correspondent especially for the elderly reader.

A doctor asks his patient "Do you have trouble passing water?"

"Well," said the patient, "I do get a bit dizzy going over Lendal Bridge!"

On a more serious and different note, I saw a statistic this week comparing European working hours with those in America.

In the past 30 years, the average working hours rose by 20 per cent in the United States and in France dropped by 24 per cent.

Forward were 154 cattle, including 63 bulls, 1,016 sheep, including 297 ewes. Light steers to 119p, Hunmanby Beef, ave 114.6p; heavy steers to 137p, J L Gray, Grindale, ave 108.08p; light heifers to 142p, G I Marwood, Harome, ave 118.5p; medium heifers to 146p, G I Marwood, Harome, ave 113.5p; medium bulls to 114p, J Almond, Bempton, ave 108.4p; heavy bulls to 116p, M Sykes, Tibthorpe, ave 106.8p; black and white bulls to 98p, S M Avison, Black Bull ave 89.4p; standard lambs to 137.1p, T E Beevers, Cottam, ave 128.15p; medium lambs to 133.7p, P Smith, Slingsby, ave 125.7p; heavy lambs to 122.8p, S Barker & Sons, Harome, ave 112.8p; overweight lambs to 114p, G L Riby, Fraisthorpe; ewes to £47.50, C W Marwood Whenby, ave £38.70.

Updated: 15:34 Wednesday, June 15, 2005