Organic farmer ruined by virus

Foot-and-mouth compensation bypasses many farmers

An organic farmer hit by the foot-and-mouth crisis has been forced to give up his livelihood and move his family into a council house.

George Lockett, who ran a farm with 200 hill sheep at Betws Garmon, near Snowdon, north Wales, said he was being forced to sell up at a big loss.

Mr Lockett's farm escaped the cull - but he receives no compensation

His animals were not subject to a livestock cull or involved in the animal welfare scheme, so Mr Lockett is not now entitled to compensation.

"Unfortunately, for the last six months, we have not had any income because, although we did not have foot-and-mouth we fell within the radius of the disease," Mr Lockett told BBC Wales's Sunday Edition programme.

"We are fairly new to farming, we have a mortgage to pay and various expenses."

We have been allocated a three-bedroomed semi-detached council house by Gwynedd council

George Lockett, organic farmer

The Locketts had been forced to keep on more animals this year, which they had not been able to sell, which had meant rising feed costs.

He added: "We have been losing £500 a week for the last few months and we have decided that we cannot keep losing that amount of money and put the property up for sale."

But, having had very little interest from potential buyers, the Locketts have been forced to auction the property and drop the asking price from £358,000 to just under £200,000.

"At the original market price we would have made a profit of £50,000, but at the auction price we will still have debts of £80,000.

"We have been allocated a three-bedroomed semi-detached council house by Gwynedd council."

Mr Lockett - who previously worked as a sound engineer - said he bought the farm at auction, after the previous owner went bankrupt.

He added: "I do not regret farming, the way of life is excellent, but I do object to the amount of paperwork and the complexity of being a cog in a supermarket supply chain, a very small cog at that."