Disease Disaster
The discovery of a disease in one of your animals must be every farmers worst nightmare. The despair of watching your flock or herd being slaughtered, the inconvenience of the imposition of major restrictions and the financial black hole that is created combine to leave the future looking very bleak indeed.
Farm Crisis Network (FCN) have compiled a report looking at the devastating effect of disease and floods on farming in 2007. The full report is available in PDF format here
If we look at how those in the farming community are supported through these difficult circumstances, the picture that emerges is certainly not of support, encouragement and assistance. It falls to groups such as FCN to offer the support that is lacking from government and councils.
The announcement that farmers will be expected to pay a levy (totalling £40m) to help cover the costs of dealing with disease outbreaks was a further blow to farmers already struggling with finances.
The cause of outbreaks can be usually traced - an act of nature (such as midgies carrying the Blue Tongue virus from the continent and infecting sheep and cattle), a lack of biosecurity on farms (such as the Hungarian farm which led to the outbreak of bird flu at Bernard Matthews turkey plant) or lack of secure procedures at other facilities (such as the government research centre, Pirbright, from which the foot and mouth virus escaped).
What can the Christian voice bring to this issue? Certainly we should encourage learning the lessons of previous outbreaks in order to prevent outbreaks in the future. But where many seek to blame and criticise, perhaps a christian perspective would be to offer support and hope to those people who find themselves at the root of disease outbreaks. For farmers who are affected by the spread of disease, we must ensure that they are given the tools needed to come through with a fighting chance of their farm surviving. Proper financial assistance, emotional support and guidance on how to deal with the situation see to be the starting points.
Do you work in agriculture? Have you been affected by outbreaks of disease? Do you live in fear of a disease being found in your animals? How best could people support farmers through this difficult process? Please leave your comments and experiences below.
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