A CAMPAIGN to increase awareness among councillors and MPs of the crisis facing agriculture will be launched by the Lanark area executive of the National Farmers' Union of Scotland.
Union officials will meet next month with representatives of North and South Lanark councils and the Lanarkshire Development Agency.
Branches within the Lanark executive will seek meetings with eight MPs whose constituencies fall within the area.
The decision to approach MPs at their surgeries was taken after David Jackson, secretary of three branches, reported little response to letters he had written.
''It is ridiculous at a time of crisis like this that there is difficulty in engaging the interest of MPs, he said.
Area president Alex Allison said anyone outside the industry might feel things were not as bad as they had been in December and January when there demonstrations at ports and a march down Princes Street in Edinburgh.
''Those of us involved know better - and perhaps things are a great deal worse,'' he said.
The area agreed to remit to headquarters a resolution from the Lanark and Biggar branch which seeks an improvement in arrangements for dealing with stock which died on farm.
The president reported that the
Scottish Office was aware of the problems which had arisen in the wake of the BSE crisis which had had a knock-on effect in knackery businesses.
The reduction in the value of carcasses of fallen stock has forced some knackers out of business, leading to an increase in on-farm disposals.
The Scottish Office has commissioned the Scottish Agricultural
College to study the problem and report next month on possible
solutions.
While the Government will meet the #12,000 cost of the survey, Agriculture Minister Lord Sewel has said there is no question of subsidising disposal.
Meanwhile, said Allison, it was imperative that all on-farm disposals were carried out properly, according to present guidelines.
''Nothing could harm us more than carcasses only half buried or contaminating water courses,'' he told colleagues. Lanark and Biggar branch also called for improved arrangement for the Scottish Office to acknowledge receipt of applications for cattle
passports.
John Hamilton, Silvermuir Farm, said he had tried to register a calf in January and did not receive a passport until May.
In the middle of February he was advised to re-submit his application and received a reply pointing out the application was late and warning that he would be liable to a fine if he was late again.
Further inquiries resulted in an explanation that both applications had been entered into the computer and then rejected because of the
duplication.
''If there had been a proper system of issuing receipts I would have had a document saying I had submitted the first application on time,'' he said.
John Burnett, convener of the area employment and technology committee, reported that negotiations were about to start on the next round of wage talks.
Employee representatives were seeking a rise which would take them up to the average national wage - an increase of about 25%, he estimated.
The area adopted his suggestion that a more realistic figure would be about 2.6% which he calculated to be about the bottom level of inflation.
There had already been a big decline in the agricultural workforce, he noted.
There was a surplus of well-qualified part-time labour and more farmers were turning to machinery rings to help meet their requirements.
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