Farming in decline

The EU spends £37 billion per annum on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This is 41% of the total EU budget.

The UK receives £3 billion per annum from the EU. In addition, UK farming receives £800 million in direct domestic support.

Farmers receive subsidies from CAP based on quotas defined by the European Union.

Sheep quotas explained

Farmers must keep accurate records of their flocks

Farmers get subsidies for each head of breeding ewe they have. To prevent over-production a limit was set on the number of sheep they can claim subsidies for.

The Quota System was introduced in 1993 and each farmer was given an allocation based on the number of sheep they had been claiming subsidies for in 1991. Farmers must keep accurate records of their flocks to prove they have got the same number of sheep on their land as the number they have got quotas for.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (MAFF) police the system. They send inspectors out to farms to make sure the numbers are correct.

System abuse

There is a market for quotas whereby farmers can lease, buy or sell their quotas. This means farmers can expand or contract the number of sheep they keep. It is feared that some farmers abuse the quota system by claiming to keep more sheep than they have.

Foot-and-mouth quickly spread across the UK

It is alleged that some farmers hire sheep or buy them from dealers on the black market to dupe any MAFF inspectors who may call. These sheep bought to make up quotas are known as black sheep and the practice is called 'Bed and Breakfasting'.

There are suspicions that this is how Foot-and-mouth spread so widely as dealers bought sheep secretly and then dropped them off at farms across the country. Traceability has been an issue throughout the crisis and there are talks of introducing sheep passports to monitor animal movements.

Industry in decline

Despite the vast sums of money spent supporting the farming industry, it is in severe decline. Farm income in the UK has fallen by over 50% in the last five years.

In 1939, 4.5% of the country's workforce was in the farming industry. By 2000 this had fallen to 1.3%. In the last 2 years one third of the UK's 150,000 farmers have quit.