The matter of who will bear the cost of additional tuberculosis (TB) testing is still not settled, it would appear.
Under new TB testing rules due to come into effect in February, animals that are moving from farm to farm or through a mart must have been TB tested in the last six months, or be tested within 30 days after the movement.
Farm organisations have consistently demanded that arrangements be put in place to fund these additional standalone tests so that farmers would not be forced to pay for more than one TB test in a year.
A recent statement from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine at the beginning of this month seemed to have settled the matter, appearing to confirm that farmers will have to bear the cost of additional tests on purchased animals.
“In circumstances where a herd-keeper is obliged to carry out a specific standalone TB test in respect of purchased animals as a result of these new changes, he or she will be responsible for payment for the test,” the department said.
However, this statement appears to be at odds with a message circulated to members of the TB Stakeholder Forum from the forum’s secretariat, which handles the administrative work of the group.
This message, seen by Agriland, is understood to have circulated to members last week.
It states: “Please note discussions are ongoing at the Financial Working Group [regarding] payment for any additional testing required.”
The Financial Working Group is one of three working groups within the TB Forum, the other two being the Implementation Working Group and the Scientific Working Group.
The Financial Working Group looks at issues in relation to, among other things, compensation for farmers who lose animals through TB.
The animal health chairperson of the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA), TJ Maher, has said that “significant progress” is being made in discussions on the TB programme that will reduce the cost burden of controls on farmers and speed of up eradication of the disease.
He said that the “substantive issue” to be resolved in the TB Forum is liability to pay for the additional testing.
“As farmers we have an agreement with the government and the department that farmers will pay for one herd test a year and at no shorter interval than 10 months. All other legislatively required testing must be paid for by the department and this remains our position,” Maher remarked.
He said that the Financial Working Group is currently in the process of discussing this issue, as well as other aspects of financing the TB Eradication Programme.
“We have the opportunity to make meaningful changes to the TB programme that will reduce the cost burden on farmers and expedite eradication of the disease if agreements can be reached on funding for aspects of the programme,” Maher commented.