Hot news from the Farmers Weekly Interactive website is that the government are investing allegations of farmers making excessive foot and mouth compensation claims.

To qoute FWi “Evidence suggested that too much money may have been paid to producers and livestock valuers, said a departmental spokeswoman. “We are alert to the possibility of excessive claims from farmers and/or valuers and are keeping matters under review,” she added.”

It seems our caring countryside chums have unsurprisingly been nominating valuers who are known to give over the odds prices for culled livestock. These valuers already get between £500 – £1500 day rate, but they also get a 1% “commission” on the total value they give, so the temptation to overestimate is huge.

The government has already ‘been shocked’ by the spending totals on culling and clean up operations but given the way all of farming is now run in an almost entirely subsidised and compensated manner it’s absolutely no suprise that farmers are tempted to ‘massage’ the figures. Isn’t it about time that somebody sat down and realised that the way the industry is run at the moment just isn’t profitable.

We know that this attitude will upset some people, and that as usual it’s the “actions of a rogue few” that slur the rest, but surely even farmers realise this current situation just doesn’t make sense?