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Is it just me or is the Daily Mail waging a campaign to destroy the British farming industry?

I'm no fan of the Mail - in fact few newspapers make my blood boil with such regularity, but this week it has reached new heights.

This morning marks its third front page on the cloned cow revelations which have focused a media storm on one unsuspecting farmer in Inverness.

Under the headline 'Farmer with 96 Clones : As the big supermarkets vow NEVER to sell clone meat or milk, the Mail tracks down the farm at the centre of the controversy' it carries a picture of Steven Innes who runs Newmeadow Holsteins.

They have portrayed the poor man like a criminal as they whip up a frenzy about cloned milk and meat.

It's nothing short of disgusting.

Those 96 cows are NO DIFFERENT to any other cows. They are the offspring of the offspring of a cloned cow. They were born and have lived exactly the same way as any other cow.

Scientists have said their meat and milk is safe.

The FSA has said it is safe.

And the European Food Safety Authority says it is safe.

Yet the Daily Mail is convincing the public it is not.

That's not to say there are not issues over traceability, transparency for consumers and animal welfare - these are all perfectly legitimate.

But by stoking the fires of food safety concerns, the Mail engages in scaremongering of the worst kind and even the most intelligent consumers, normally immune to the scare stories the Mail comes up with, are falling for it.

Even Eamon Holmes (and I'm probably being a little kind calling him intelligent after this cracker!) said on Sky News this morning it was a little like BSE in that farmers put public health at risk for the sake of trying to boost production.

What a ridiculous suggestion!

No other national newspaper has gone for the story in the same way the Mail has, and no other journalist has framed the story quite like Sean Poulter (who we can thank for previous scares over 'Frankenfoods') has.

It begs the question, why is the farming industry not getting its point across? And the FSA and Defra too?

They should be moving to assure the public meat and milk that has entered the food chain is perfectly safe.

If they fail to do that the damage will be done and - as one consumer commented on the Mail's website on Monday (yes, for the purposes of research I was forced to read it) - people will switch to buying French meat and milk.

The industry can not afford to let this roll on and needs to act decisively to assure consumers there is no risk.

Only once it has done that can we have a reasoned debate about animal welfare and traceability to ensure procedures are put in place to ensure the LEGITIMATE concerns this has raised are properly addressed. 

Otherwise the likes of the Mail will win the day and it will turn a very bad week for some farmers into a PR disaster for an entire industry.

This morning I was treated to a breakfast fit for a king or, to be more precise, a lord.

It was the David Black Awards at the House of Lords, where the great and the good from the British pig industry get together to celebrate one person's outstanding achievements.

And this year's winner is a rare breed.

Step forward Professor Sandra Edwards, chair of agriculture at Newcastle University.

A worthy winner indeed, having dedicated some 30 years to applied research in agriculture.

She is also a rare breed in being an applied research scientist.

In fact, nobody from a science background has won the award for almost a decade now.

Applied science in agriculture is on its knees. And this, at a time when the UK should be leading the world on issues such as food production and animal welfare.

In her acceptance speech she called on farming Minister Jim Fitzpatrick, to push for greater Government investment in applied agricultural science.

Noticeably however, Mr Fitzpatrick failed to respond to that call when he stepped up to the platform to congratulate Prof Edwards.

Also in the audience was Mr Fitzpatrick's predecessor at Defra, Jane Kennedy who last week took up the post as chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Science in Technology in Agriculture.

Described by many as a 'friend to the industry' when she was at Defra, one can only hope in her new role she can push Government to sit up and take notice.

Prof Edwards warned without more investment and without a solid platform on which to build a successful career in science, many graduates today will seek employment elsewhere.

And that trend is already happening.

I studied under Prof Edwards at Newcastle, and only one of my classmates from those days is now employed in research science.

Telesales reps - yes that person phoning with a great insurance offer on a Sunday morning went through 4 years of university to get there - personal trainers, accountants, teachers and journalists - but just one who continued on to do research.

It's a sad state of affairs.

Britain is at risk of becoming a knowledge vacuum, a place where science is all but forgotten in a bid to cut costs or plough money into other perhaps more 'sexy' projects.

But it is a dangerous path to go down and in the long run would leave us less competitive than our colleagues around the world.

We will be forced to import knowledge and technology at great expense while at the same time losing our status as one of the world's leading science bases.