Recent successes
It may be one of the smaller organisations in the shooting world but the GFA has an extraordinary record of recognising threats and opportunities and working on behalf of its members to get the best possible results. Here are just a few examples of our successes:
Defending Gamebird Releasing
In 2020, a court case threatened to stop all gamebird releasing within 5km or more of all sites in England originally protected under EU law. A large percentage of shoots could have been affected. The GFA joined with other organisations, providing evidence and appointing lawyers to help see off this threat, thereby markedly reducing its impact.
The Game Farming Guide
From 2011 until 2019, in partnership with Keepers Choice, we produced a complete guide to all the legislation and best practice advice related to the game farming industry. It was kept regularly updated for all members. In 2020, we launched a revised online version, which is available to all GFA members via the password protected Members’ Area.
Heading off a medicines crisis
The availability of the right drugs is crucial to game farming as it is to all livestock management. Over dependence on medicines like antibiotics threatens the game farming industry’s future. The GFA took up the urgent challenge of measuring AB use in the game sector and planning its orderly and necessary reduction.
Workable Government Codes
In 2009, Labour was close to passing a Government Code of practice that would have made game farming as a business wholly impractical. The GFA turned things around by getting Ministers out to see what actually goes on in game farming. We also invited the Farm Animal Welfare Council out to members’ farms and we lobbied the relevant All-Party Parliamentary Groups to help get the right result in the end: A Defra Code that promotes good welfare but which is also practical.
Representing Your Interests
Because the GFA truly understand the detail of the game farming industry, when there is a crisis or an outbreak, take bird flu as an example. Defra turn to the GFA to find out what goes on in game farming and what affect various possible control strategies might have on the gamebird sector.