Foot and mouth devastated rural Britain. It could happen again

When the new year is welcomed in, we hope for good fortune in the months that lie ahead. But 25 years ago, right across the British countryside, good fortune was nowhere to be seen. Instead, 2001 was to be one of the blackest years ever, as an unexpected epidemic of foot and mouth disease swept the land.

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For eight months, the disease was on the rampage. It resulted in the deaths of more than six million farm animals, threatened the livelihoods of many farming families, cost nearly £14 billion in today’s money and virtually closed down rural Britain. And it could happen again. So, a quarter of a century later, have lessons been learnt to prevent another devastating outbreak?

During the epidemic Countryfile reported on little else and I vividly recall the blazing funeral pyres - flocks and herds destroyed in mere hours after taking generations to build - and the overwhelming sense of loss and shock felt down many a country lane.

In the early days, a Warwickshire farmer talked to us by the ‘No Entry’ sign at his gate. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he described how a ministry team had dispatched his entire herd of cattle as they lay in their stalls. I was to hear many similar stories during the following months as cases grew to 2,000. Animals on farms neighbouring the infected ones were also culled, exclusion zones were set up and, with travel almost impossible, rural tourism nosedived. It became clear how much small farms depended on their B&B businesses - and that disappeared.