Farmers being milked dry by government

The UPM, Majorcan Farmers Union, yesterday called on the Balearic government to bring forward the payment of compensation and financial aid for the cattle sector. Apart from compensation due because of the mad cow crisis, the beef and dairy sectors were promised financial aid last year, but farmers have yet to see a peseta. Yesterday the Farmers Union demanded that the Balearic Ministry for Agriculture start paying up. In an official statement released by the UPM, farmers have called for the Ministry for Agriculture to be “more responsible” and accused the Balearics' public administrations of having been slow to respond to the detection of mad cow in the region. The Farmers Union wants to see effective measures introduced to cease the negative effects of the crisis. “We are not going to sit around and watch the region's beef and dairy industries disappear,” the UPM warned the local government. The Union also stressed the urgent need for a special collection service to be introduced to clear away and incinerate the dead cattle on the islands' farms. The UPM maintains that once the new incinerator in Majorca is in operation, farmers will no longer have to worry about whether cattle which have died on their properties were infected or not.