Can we expect farmers to bear all the responsibility for the health of livestock? asks NFU Vice President

“Over 80% of red meat sold in our supermarkets is now British, a statistic which emphasises the importance of farmed livestock for our economy and food supplies. The importance of grazing livestock in managing the ecology and environment of our countryside cannot be ignored either. These represent some of the public goods attributed to livestock farming. But farmers have the first line of responsibility for the animals in their care: this is a matter carrying legal and commercial implications. The question today is how far this responsibility goes; can farmers really ever ‘own’ their animals’ health?” asks farmer and NFU Vice President Gwyn Jones.

“Who owns animal health: the farmer or the state?” will be the topic up for discussion at the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme’s national conference being held at The Sage, Gateshead on Wednesday 16 November 2011.

Gwyn Jones will be joined on the panel by Warwick University epidemiologist Professor Laura Green, Professor Joe Brownlie, Emeritus Professor of Veterinary Pathology at the Royal Veterinary College and Professor Jeff Waage, Director of the London International Development Centre.

They will be discussing the topic with an audience of policymakers and practitioners, under the chairmanship of rural affairs journalist Mark Holdstock.