fwd from nlpweesex. both MAFF and the NFU need replacing:

The National Farmers Union of England and Wales has been resisting demands by consumers to introduce restrictions on the use of GMOs in farm  production systems which are eligible for certification under the NFU's British Farm Standard (under the little red tractor logo).

One of the key issues here has been the willingness of the NFU to allow  the use of GM animal feeds, particularly GM soya marketed by Monsanto.  Although the NFU claims that the use of such soya is necessary to keep farmers  costs down, a number of recent reports in the farming press (posted on this new service) have demonstrated that there are non-gm sources of animal feed which are just as cost effective, and in some cases more so.

The position of the NFU on this subject has therefore been something of a mystery, particularly as the introduction of a non-gm specification under the little red tractor label would enable British products to compete more effectively in the market place.

Perhaps the mystery is now being solved.  It turns out - as revealed in today's London Times - that the NFU is a financial investor in Monsanto.

Just what kind of signal does this send to its members about the NFUs commitment to the future of British farmers?

"......it is difficult to see how the NFU can speak freely about genetic modification while investing in companies like Monsanto”, Norman Baker, Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes.

NATURAL LAW PARTY WESSEX This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. www.btinternet.com/~nlpwessex
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NFU refuses to use £30m to aid farmers
BY IAN COBAIN, TOM BALDWIN AND JAMES DORAN
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-122483,00.html
THE LONDON TIMES
TUESDAY MAY 01 2001

THE National Farmers’ Union is refusing to offer financial support to its members despite amassing stock market investments worth more than £30 million.

Among the union’s investments are holdings in firms experimenting with genetically modified food, as well as supermarkets and banks that have  been criticised for putting farmers out of business.

The NFU insisted yesterday that aid for farmers hit by foot-and-mouth was a matter for the Government, which has spent almost £100 million dealing  with the epidemic. Michael Lambert, the union’s treasurer, said: “We are a membership organisation and we use our money to lobby the Government to ensure farmers are properly compensated.”

Although the NFU is administering a farmers’ crisis fund, Mr Lambert said that it consisted entirely of public donations and the union had not contributed any money. If assets were used to assist farmers “we would  have to raise our members’ subscriptions or reduce the services to an unacceptable level”, he said. John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB trade union, said: “The hypocrisy of the NFU is staggering. At the same  time as they attack the Government for not doing enough to bail out farmers  they are refusing to spend a penny of their own money.”

Other unions regularly use financial reserves to assist members, not least during industrial action. Mr Edmonds said “the NFU is a union in name  only”.

When questioned about its assets, an NFU spokeswoman initially said:  “There’s about £10 million and we use the revenue to assist with our day-to-day running costs.” In October last year, however, the NFU filed financial returns with the official Certification Office showing that it had quoted investments of £30,880,000.

Among the union’s investments are holdings worth hundreds of thousands of pounds in five drug and bioscience companies experimenting with  genetically modified products, including the American GM giant Monsanto. The NFU has also bought a substantial number of shares in Tesco, the supermarket chain that it has accused of profiteering, and about £168,000 in Barclays Bank, which was accused of abandoning rural Britain last year when it shut down a large number of village branches.

Mr Lambert defended the choice of stocks and shares, saying that decisions were taken by the NFU’s two independent financial advisers. “It is a financial consideration: these investments are done purely for the return that we get,” he said.

MPs condemned the union for entering into investments that could  compromise its ability to speak freely on behalf of its members. Norman Baker,  Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, said: “Farmers in my constituency will raise their eyebrows at the idea of the NFU investing in Tesco, which has quite  rightly been criticised by farmers and by their union in the past. And it is difficult to see how the NFU can speak freely about genetic modification while investing in companies like Monsanto.”

A senior Labour MP with a partly rural constituency added: “Plenty of  other organisations have found that they can invest wisely but invest ethically, so why can’t the NFU? Why are they sitting on all this money at a time  when the taxpayer is handing over so much compensation to farmers who have lost their livestock?” The NFU is in favour of controlled field trials on genetically modified crops, although the leadership acknowledges that its membership is deeply divided on the issue.

Lawrence Wright, who has a 40-acre sheep farm near Ilfracombe, Devon,  where he produces organic cheese, said: “It’s not in my interests and I don’t believe that it’s in the interests of other small family farmers.”

He believes that the NFU should be investing in local abattoirs and small chains of butchers’ and grocers’ shops to help its members to sell their produce.