Government's promise is long overdue (From Western Telegraph)

Government's promise is long overdue

The Government's promise to cut through the red tape strangling Pembrokeshire's rural businesses is long overdue.

For too long there has been unnecessary duplication in the inspections process, which puts tremendous stress on farmers.

Few industries are as heavily inspected as agriculture. In a single year a herd can be tested by the State Veterinary Service for bovine TB and within weeks the animals may be herded into the collecting yard once again to have their ear tags inspected for the British Cattle Movement Service.

Both are Government agencies, so why not adopt a co-ordinated approach to save valuable time and reduce unnecessary stress on livestock?

No sooner will the farmer have waved goodbye to these inspectors when the Health and Safety Executive might turn up at the farm gate to check that everything is in order.

Then there is the Dairy Hygiene Inspectorate, which pays dairy farms a visit once a year. Of course it is important for public health that dairy units are monitored, but this is the same audit which a farmer's milk buyer will also be undertaking. And, if the unit is Farm Assured, there is a third duplication.

So, a big cheer could be heard among Pembrokeshire's farming fraternity when the Chancellor pledged in his Budget speech to cut the number of rural inspection agencies from 22 to five.

There are currently over 300 different kinds of inspections, which give Government agents a right of entry into rural business premises. It is too early to know what the proposed cuts will mean to individual farms, but it is a step in the right direction.

Whether the demands of cross-compliance and the associated plethora of environmental obligations will negate any benefits from these cuts remains to be seen.