Task force set to slash red tape tangle on farms

Launched last month by the coalition Government, the Defra Task force on Farming Regulation is made up of industry figures and headed by former National Farmers' Union official Richard Macdonald.

The group is meeting with farmers across Yorkshire and the UK to identify what particular areas of agriculture are being held back or hampered by excessive regulation.

The key areas already identified by the group are those of farm animals, crops, food processing, business management and environmental land management.

The Yorkshire Post understands that animal movements, Nitrate Vulnerable Zone rules, cross compliance, the Meat Hygiene Service and implementation of European Union fruit and vegetable regime are among the areas being examined.

The task force will meet in two weeks' time to get the latest updates on what the public have been suggesting. The consultation process will last until October whereupon the task force will begin recommending "unnecessary measures" for cuts.

And its scope will even extend beyond the parameters of Defra, with other Government departments to fall under its microscope.

While much of the regulation which causes problems to farmers may emanate from Europe, the task force is likely to make recommendations for areas which can be renegotiated with the EU.

As well as scrapping regulation which is deemed to be disproportionate or over-complex, the task force is said to be willing to recommend how enforcement could be made simpler.

Among those sitting on the task force is Judith Donovan, a Yorkshire businesswoman who headed a drive to help cut down of accident levels on UK farms.

For the past few weeks she and her fellow task force members have been consulting with the organisation's stakeholder groups. Next week she will meet with Bill Cowling, regional director of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society.

She said: "Jim Paice has commissioned it. It is rare to get a farming minister who owns a farm and works it. He has farming in his DNA and put his career on the line for this.

"We do not want this to be fiddly or skirt around the corners or take five years. We want to make changes that will be of real significance to people.

"I am delighted to be involved in it for a number of reasons. I finished with my role with the HSE in and can now stay on working for the agricultural community.

"I am proud to be the only person from Yorkshire on the task force. The group has a real geographical spread rather than just being comprised of people from the south east."

Reducing red tape and regulation was a Tory party promise during the election campaign. People can make recommendations via the Defra website where people have been making comments and suggestions about how the rules could be simplified.

Other Task Force members are Richard Percy, vice-chairman of NFU Mutual; William Goodwin, an animal welfare expert; Waitrose director Heather Jenkins; Marion Regan, managing director of Hugh Lowe Farms; John Healey, company secretary of Warburtons; Andy Robertson, director of environment issues at East Sussex County Council and Steve Tapper, a senior scientist and director with the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust.