REGARDING the comments of John Blunt about the BSE crisis (LET, December 24) let me put the record straight.
He commented that the so-called greedy farmers knowingly fed feed containing meat and bone meal to their animals.
This is not strictly true as the meal was incorporated by the animal feed manufacturers to give them increased profits without any thoughts for the consequences.
During the whole crisis, they have kept very quiet about this and let the farmers shoulder the blame.
Another thing I would point out to readers is the vast difference between the price the farmer receives and that which the housewife has to pay.
At present, many farmers are receiving 170-190 pence per kilogram for a lamb carcass, yet the price of a lamb in the supermarket varies from 270-900 a kilogram, which represents a 170 per cent increase on average.
The same applies with beef and pork and it is high time that more of these high margins were passed on to both consumer and producer.
STEPHEN G WHALLEY, Barons Fold Farm, Abbey Village.
Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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