Published: Wednesday, 2nd July, 2008 9:00am

Red tape strangles MP's farm

by Adam Hewitt

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RICHARD Benyon is abandoning his long-established dairy farm because of Government red tape.

The Newbury MP has 160 organic Friesian cows at his family's ancient estate at Englefield, but told the House of Commons on Monday that bureaucracy and needless regulations are forcing him to give up dairy farming.

He told the Chronicle: "After surviving the various diseases that have hit the country - bluetongue disease, foot and mouth, bovine TB - it's very sad to see the herd go. We've had a dairy herd here all my life.

"The area west of Reading has always been a massive dairy area which provided more than was needed locally meaning the rest was sent further afield, but in recent years the number of dairy farms has plummeted to just a handful.

"The infrastructure has fallen away - there are very few vets in the area, you have to drive many miles to slaughterhouses, and there's no real cattle market in Reading any more."

He blamed the restrictive rules on everything from reducing nitrate pollution to the disposal of fallen stock, and the prohibitive costs of upgrading the farm under new rules.

He also pointed to a recent health and safety audit where inspectors asked his sole herdsman, working at the estate for 30 years but soon to retire, what provision there would be if a pregnant woman started work there.

Mr Benyon said: "They asked where a pregnant woman would be able to sit down and relax. He said he was the only one working here, but they said he might be replaced with a pregnant woman. Unnecessary regulations like this really threaten viability." Mr Benyon said tenant farmers on the 14,000 acre estate would keep their own herds of cattle and pigs, and that he will continue farming cattle for beef, but dairy cows belonging to his family will go.

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