I see that some of our press are now sensationalising the prospect that we must all prepare for possible germ warfare. We could they say, face Anthrax, Cholera, Smallpox, Botulinum, or even the plague, to mention a few. Faced with this prospect it makes some of the precautions now faced by our food producers somewhat over zealous. Pasteurised, sterilised and the over use of radiation, the latter I believe to an uninformed and unsuspecting public. We are now being warned that farms are not safe places to store or maybe even grow food products. No longer can potatoes be stored in farm stores. I am told certain retailers now insist they are removed to dedicated stores, at a cost to the producer of course. Grain must be checked frequently, livestock must leave farms for slaughter with not a spec of dirt on them. Vegetables are frowned upon if they should appear ever to have come into contact with soil. How absurd this is all becoming and trivial. No wonder we have a generation of children who appear to have no natural antibodies and no resistance to the slightest normally harmless bugs. The public should not be mollycoddled and protected to such ridiculous degrees, they must recognise and appreciate that their food is produced by farmers on farms, and the beautiful countryside they enjoy is a by-product of this industry and not there by chance. When times are somewhat precarious, and food could become scarce, the last thing we should worry about is a little dirt. Surely now is the time to get practical, cut the red tape and unnecessary bureaucracy, buy British and support our farmers. {{NEWS }}