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ELECTRONIC NIGHTMARE LOOMS FOR NW FARMERS

North Wales farmers will find it virtually impossible to comply with a new European directive on electronic identification of sheep (EID), due to be introduced at the end of the year, and many of them may decide to leave farming altogether, says Clwyd West Conservative MP, David Jones.  

Under the directive, it will be compulsory for all sheep born on or after 31st December 2009 to be electronically tagged.

The EU says that EID will be beneficial to farmers, making the individual recording of stock easier, quicker and more accurate. However, trials have highlighted many problems with the technology, and farmers are concerned that the directive will be almost impossible to comply with and prohibitively expensive.
 
David Jones said:

I have had meetings with farmers and others involved in agricultural services in North Wales, all of whom are extremely concerned at the potential impact of the directive on their livelihoods.

The directive will impact on Britain, which is the largest producer of sheep meat in the EU, more heavily than on any other country.  It will cause particular hardship in North Wales, in which sheep farming and associated industries are of considerable economic importance.  The cost of complying with the directive will make farming increasingly unprofitable for Welsh farmers.

In addition, it will be almost impossible for livestock auctioneers to comply with the directive.  The technology is not sufficiently developed to allow tags to be read in large batches, which means that they will have to be individually read by hand.  For an auction such as Ruthin, in which thousands of sheep are regularly sold at a single session, this will prove an impossible undertaking.

I have written to ministers at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs expressing my concern at the impact this directive will have on farmers in North Wales and urging that they do everything in their power to negotiate a derogation for the UK from complying with it.

But they need to act quickly.  This directive is turning into a nightmare for Welsh farmers.  If it is implemented, many of them may decide to go out of livestock farming altogether.