Bluetongue and EID raised at 'Ask the Minister' event:

The latest situation with regard to the Bluetongue disease was explained to farmers during a question and answer session type event held on the Farmers' Union of Wales stand at the Denbigh and Flint County Show with Rural Affairs Minister Elin Jones AM.

Farmers were asked to prepare, and be ready to vaccinate livestock as soon as the whole of Wales becomes a Bluetongue Protection Zone, which would hopefully be in early September. The Minister could not confirm the exact date this would happen but this would not be before 31st August 2008 and was dependent on vaccine availability and on whether any confirmed cases of the disease were found elsewhere in the Country before this date. A close working relationship had, and would continue to develop on this very important issue with all stakeholders, the Minister added.

Strong views were expressed on the electronic tagging of sheep (EID) regulation, which would be enforced in 2010. The Union had made strong representations on this over a number of years but it proved difficult to get the European authorities to understand the effect EID would have on the sheep industry in Wales. The Minister understood the difficulties and stated that she, as well as her officials had done a lot of work on this. However, as this was a European regulation passed in 2003 following the foot and mouth outbreak of 2001, it was difficult to change this or amend any details of the regulation. A petition was available for farmers to sign on the Union's stand during the show.

An update on the TB eradication programme was had with the Minister stating that the Welsh Assembly Government were committed to the programme as announced in recent months. However, it was a long and complicated process and it would take time to put the measures in place, the Minister explained.

Other important issues raised were the NVZ situation, agri-environment schemes, food security, as well as new entrants into the industry.

At the end of the forum, County Vice Chairman Eryl Hughes said, "We appreciate the Minister taking the time to attend our stand and giving the regions farmers the opportunity to raise issues of concern with her. We hope she found the meeting useful, and that she takes on board the views expressed by our members at the show".