Charity set up to help Cumbrian farmers

The Charity Commission registered the first charity set up to
help farmers suffering because of the foot and mouth crisis last
week.

The Arthur Rank Centre Addington Fund’s objective is to relieve
poverty of those in the agricultural and related industries through
grants. Meanwhile, the government’s foot and mouth task force has
heard that Cumbria should be declared a rural action zone.

This is one of the key priorities to emerge from the first
meeting of Cumbria’s foot and mouth task force. A list of
priorities required to help the county recover from the outbreak
was passed on to the government’s task force meeting last week,
including a plea to ease regulations whereby those collecting
benefits have to do so in person.

It is estimated that the loss to agriculture and associated
businesses in the county is running at £5 million per
week.