Catherine McLaughlin is our chief adviser for animal health and welfare. She visited Riga, in Latvia, to see how EU member states can control animal disease.
She writes:
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We are an island surrounded by an ocean barrier and have farming and veterinary infrastructure which allows us to predict and manage disease outbreaks as much as possible.
Many European countries are not so lucky. They have large numbers of ‘backyard farms’, relatively scant information networks for farmers and food producers, land borders bringing wildlife into direct contact with domestic animals and some have less capacity for effective veterinary interventions. These infrastructures, social and geographic challenges make them vulnerable to disease incursions from the east and south – but this also makes us, and the rest of Europe, vulnerable to such diseases as well.
Getting a robust animal disease strategy in place across the EU before the next big disease challenge occurs could be vital to the UK agricultural industry.
On the 1st January 2015, Latvia took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. For Member States this affords a huge opportunity to showcase their cultural contribution to the EU whilst highlighting or focussing on policies close to their heart.
This was true of Latvia when they hosted a multi-country workshop on ‘Biosecurity - fundamental for animal health’ in the capital city of Riga. 39 European countries came together to learn from each other and the event was supported by the European Commission, the OIE and the FVO.
The NFU highlighted the biosecurity experiences and challenges of English and Welsh farmers at the event. As well as the need for a workable yet stringent biosecurity policy across the EU to help prevent and control disease outbreaks and safeguard the British farming industry.
The two-day event combined formal presentations, from the European Commission, the FVO, the OIE, EFSA, the Russian Federation and the Agricultural Ministries of Latvia and Serbia, with workshops. The workshops saw us divided into Poultry, Ruminant and Pig groups to discuss biosecurity best practice for AI, Bluetongue and Classical Swine Fever respectively.
What happens next? Biosecurity guidance will be developed and shared with member states to encourage and incentivise changes in behaviour amongst animal keepers not already engaged with biosecurity best practise. And the NFU will be at the heart of this to make sure our members benefit from it.