UK farming is among leaders in reducing use of antibiotics
After January’s quiet weather we are back to more changeable conditions as the jet stream weaves up and down the country. As cold Arctic air collides with warm air from the tropics, the jet stream is moved around, giving us a roller coaster ride between cold air and mild weather. February is often a cold month but with less than three weeks to go until March, spring is on its way.
New EU law which states that antibiotics should not be applied routinely or be used to compensate for poor hygiene, inadequate husbandry or poor management has been seized on by the campaign group Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics (ASOA) who suggest that there is a danger the UK could now fall behind. This is nonsense of course as our farming industry has more than halved antibiotic use since 2014 and the reductions continue. This is more a case of the EU catching up with the leadership shown in Scandinavia and the UK, the UK being among the lowest users and unlike any other country, achieved this by voluntary measures.
Our voluntary approach to this important issue in the UK is unique and has attracted a great deal of attention across the world both in farming and human medicine. Dame Sally Davies, special envoy on antimicrobial resistance has been one of our greatest supporters and has spoken widely about the voluntary achievements in the UK.
ASOA is an alliance of the Soil Association, Compassion in World Farming and Sustain; all three organisations which would dearly like to return us to 1950s farming. It has been lobbying government for years to introduce legislation despite the amazing reductions which have been taking place. Coilin Nunan, its scientific adviser, is now warning that as our government is likely to allow meat and products into this country produced with high antibiotic use and that UK farmers will have no choice but to follow suit. That will not happen and it shows how little Coilin knows about this subject. There are many reasons and benefits to cutting antibiotic use in farming and feedback from our farmers has been revealing.
Healthy stock are more profitable and the less a farmer has to treat his or her stock the greater that profit is likely to be; not least as antibiotics are expensive and calling the vet out on farm certainly is. More and more farmers and vets are using their time in planning prevention rather than cure and the veterinary practices are changing their business model to selling advice and not medicines. The farmer-vet partnership has been key to this change and it continues. Responsible Use of Medicines in Agriculture (RUMA) has been the driving force in this approach and I was chair of this group when we accepted the challenge from Lord O’Neill to hit government targets and in setting up the RUMA Targets Task Force to deliver.
We not only hit those targets, but we have since carried on setting targets for each farming sector, lowering usage further. Many farmers have commented how much healthier their animals are since preventative medicine has been replaced with targeted treatment and changing practices; improving conditions in order to improve the health of stock on farm.
I am still on the RUMA Board but now chair RUMA Companion Animal and Equine group, where we are looking at targets and measures for companion animals; a very different challenge and more akin to human health as often the companion animal is seen as a member of the family. The risks of transmission of disease and antibiotic resistance are real when animals and humans live in the same household and share the same bugs and it is important to do what we can to minimise such risks.
In the meantime Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) has shown its true colours by suggesting our pig industry should be slimmed down in order to combat labour shortages and climate change. CIWF is asking government to work with the pig industry to reduce pig herds to an ‘ongoing viable limit’. Given that only 40 per cent of pork is produced here, it is deeply disappointing that CIWF chose not to pay any attention to the vast amount of imported pork produced to very different standards. Ignoring imports and suggesting our highly regulated pig industry is cut down in production shows the pressure group’s single ambition, which is to end intensive farming in the UK. It makes no secret of that and are also very much against poultry production and often target dairy; choosing to attack our own farming while ignoring imported food and products. It also chose to ignore the human suffering in the pig sector as it struggles with huge problems not of its own making. Lack of processing capacity due to a shortage of butchers, the C02 crisis before that and now increase in energy and feed prices have made the last two years very difficult for pig farmers as they cannot move pigs off farm in a timely fashion which means many are outside specification. Many have gone out of business, others are getting out and we are already seeing the sector contracting.
Welfare and animal rights groups have been embolden by allies in high places and in government and have been keen to talk about their greater influence. This is certainly true as we find animal welfare hot on the heels of environment which now dominate government policy. We saw the Prime Minister’s poor response to the pig crisis and it was fairly obvious that there is not much sympathy for the pig industry in No 10.
NFU President Minette Batters has certainly made her views known about the frustration of political interference in farm policy. This country is in a mess and we need to sort out one important process which needs to change now. For the sake of democracy, we should end the practice of allowing party members to choose their leader as we have now had Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson.
Corbyn would have been true to form and would not have changed had he been successful, just as Boris has remained the same man he has been for decades. It is surprising that so many feel let down. Why? Boris and Jeremy are very much the same; you get what it says on the tin, but most people do not have the time, interest or inclination to read the label.
One of the good things about the Covid pandemic is that support for populist politics has diminished sharply. A survey of 750,000 people in 109 countries shows falling support and greater trust in scientists and civil servants. Funny that. We left the EU as it was run by faceless unelected bureaucrats and the need to restore sovereignty and control was paramount. With the team which pushed hardest for Brexit in charge I am really struggling to see where we have gained, where we are better off and where on earth we might end up. Even Ian Duncan Smith is worried!