I WOULD like publicly to write and thank Princess Anne for sharing her common sense views on matters in the countryside. Her refreshing and frank interview about issues affecting the British countryside has provided a very grounded and experienced view point of these matters.

Princess Anne has suffered personally with bovine tuberculosis (bTB) wiping out a third of her cattle herd in two years and acknowledged even without the bTB debate, the continued increase in badger numbers is out of balance and causing a number of conservation issues due to their predation on wildlife such as hedgehogs and ground nesting birds and bees. Princess Anne also recognised the inevitable increasing role of genetically

modified (GM) crops to help feed an expanding population with fewer resources (principally land and water). The biggest crop producing areas (America, Canada, Brazil) have been producing GM crops for a number of years and exporting all around the world. GM feeds are feed to livestock all around the world, GM tomatoes are used in a wide range of tomato based products. Princess Anne also gave her views on rural housing and the neglect of abandoned horses, due to their owners perceiving that they had no value and they could not afford to look after them.

These are all very complicated matters, but I do believe that the opinions of those living and working in the countryside should be considered more strongly, rather than political decisions being swayed by a few noisy campaigners/protestors.

 

STUART BATCHELOR

Chairman Cirencester NFU