SIR, – re your heading 'Business benefit will be key to grain passports' in a recent issue.

This topic has been discussed for at least 10 years now, with little or no farmer support for the concept. I was deeply disappointed to hear at a local NFUS Regional Board meeting that NFUS had been contacted to seek its opinion for contribution to your article.

However, it appears that their staff had chosen not to respond and said nothing. In effect, they simply sat on the fence.

Our NFUS membership rejected the DGP proposal, as did many grain merchants in England and Scotland. It seems that many haulage contractors are beginning to speak out and voice concerns that this proposal is a complete waste of resources and levy payers’ monies.

Everyone knows that there is ample traceability from farm to merchants and processors. The law recognises that farmers are subject to food safety standards at point of delivery as has always been the case.

Therefore, this additional proposed DGP burden and cost to industry needs to be dumped in the rubbish heap as it is simply neither useful nor fit for purpose.

We need a review of AHDB so we can not only reject their proposed DGP along with their proposed levy increases, but also reject their existence. Let’s stand up for ourselves and collaborate with the hauliers and grain merchants to remove this authoritarian levy body from our lives.

Ask yourselves: What is their purpose? The answer is they do not have any raison d’etre, bar looking after their own jobs and seeking to ruin our livelihoods. Enough is enough !

Patrick Sleigh, West Fingask, Oldmeldrum.