The devastating foot and mouth crisis

Measures to boost the rural economy after the devastating foot and mouth crisis have failed, according to new research out today.

A study published by the Centre for Rural Economy (CRE) at Newcastle University on the fifth anniversary of the disease outbreak, reports that household incomes in remoter rural areas continue to lag behind the national average.

The worst affected counties (Cumbria and Devon) are falling ever further behind national economic growth rates. Even more worryingly, rates of new business registrations are declining in remoter rural areas for the first time in a decade.

A key reason for the slump, say researchers, is the failure of Government policies designed to help develop local rural economies since the Foot and Mouth crisis. In particular, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), originally set up to champion rural issues, has been ‘swamped’ by other political issues such as climate change, and rural affairs has slipped way down its agenda, say the study authors.

The report says other reasons for the failure include:

• The Government’s response to the crisis and its aftermath was too heavily oriented towards the farming industry. Farmers received £1.34billion in compensation for livestock losses, while only £39million was given to the Business Recovery Fund aimed at rural businesses that suffered losses.
• The Government and other countryside organisations have been preoccupied since 2001 with institutional reforms and mergers, including the abolition of the Countryside Agency, which had rural affairs at its heart.
• The Government has passed over operational responsibility for rural development to Regional Development Agencies but, say the study authors, most of these are preoccupied with urban regeneration.
• Less than four per cent of European Common Agricultural Policy funding earmarked for rural development is available to non-farming businesses and activities in the UK (such as rural services, village improvement, tourism). However, the vast bulk of EU rural development support goes to farmers, but agriculture employs just 2.6 per cent of the workforce in rural areas.

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