BERNARD MATTHEWS COMPENSATED FOR TURKEY DRAMA
Irresponsible farm management leading to Avian Flu and the killing
of almost 200,000 turkeys at Bernard Matthews farm in February is now ‘rewarded’ by DEFRA.
The Bernard Matthews company will receive more than half a million pounds in compensation!
According to Jack Straw in The Independent most MPs are uncomfortable with this high payment...
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will reimburse £3 or £4 per bird depending on the age. But apparently Defra is working on a proposal where the costs of outbreaks can be shared between the industry and the taxpayer.
During the Foot and Mouth crisis in 2001 the Treasury was forced to pay out £5 billion to farmers. This caused extreme societal unrest as people did not want their tax money to be used for diseases caused by the industry's poor husbandry methods.
In February BBC reporter Evan Davis concluded that there is no logical economic argument for the taxpayer to offer any support at all.
Animals Count agrees and thinks that compensating the farming industry for losses due to outbreaks is not only unethical, but represents false economy. Responsibility and liability should lie with the industry 100% and may imply marginally more expensive meat. This would be the only logical solution and at the same time form the basis of a better prevention plan, as the industry is currently not encouraged to do everything they can to prevent outbreaks.
Defra should be spending public money on those farms that have high health and welfare standards to encourage best practice instead of compensating those who demonstrate poor animal management. Furthermore, Defra should actively support plant-based agriculture to represent the 3 million vegetarians and those people who eat less meat (over 20 million consumers in total).