This week started with what looked like the long expected rains - it is officially autumn after all. The temperatures are beginning to feel more autumnal. Throughout the long dry spell my friends have been going round with long faces.

They have been predicting "we shall have to pay for this" ever since the sun came out. That said, it is being so cheerful that keeps them going. Monday seemed to be the time when they were going to be proved right.

Monday was also the day when Pateley Bridge Show was held. Many things are said about Yorkshire countrymen. Some are true. But when they come out to enjoy themselves, they get dressed up in their outdoor gear and it doesn't matter how it rains, they do enjoy themselves.

Pateley Bridge is a most attractive part of the world. It is the sort of place to which thousands of people would travel hundreds of miles, if it were abroad. The fact that the traders take sterling and speak English seems to work against it. These are both good things.

The show was made memorable for visitors, not only by the rain, but also by the presence of the Prince Of Wales. He spent a good few hours on the show ground and, at least in the tent in which I observed closely, spent some time in conversation with each of the stall holders. He clearly had a good knowledge of the way in which the food chain works, and had salient points to make.

The shows have revived themselves in a remarkable way since the scourge of foot and mouth disease blighted the country. There has never been a definite statement about where it came from, though there are fairly well founded suspicions.

It has been remarkable how rapidly the animal populations have got back to previous levels, or in some individual farms' cases, increased. The number of farmers who decided not to restock is much smaller than had been thought. Some of the products of their restocking were on show at Pateley Bridge.

The industry has taken many steps to try to prevent the sort of spread of foot and mouth we experienced last time. The problem remains the relative ease with which the infected materials can be brought into the country.

We keep being assured that there are extra safeguards at ports and airports. No one I know who travels regularly seems to agree.

It is not possible to get into Australia with so much as a plastic bag which has contained fruit. They have sniffer dogs to find them. Here we have numerous illegal imports of dubious meat allegedly for personal consumption. We have learned little.

The decline in the value of the pound against the euro has helped the UK industry with better prices. More particularly the lack of rain on the continent has resulted in a smaller harvest. The effects of nature are the most important factor in farming.

We forget that at our peril.

The atmosphere in the industry is better than last year. Let's hope this modest optimism is well founded. Pateley Show was a time for celebrating a glorious summer and the countryside's ability to re-create itself in the face of adversity.

Left to itself, with less interference and a more sympathetic adminis-tration, farming and the countryside could regenerate into a really useful asset for all citizens.

Let us hope our political masters allow it to do so.

Updated: 13:13 Tuesday, September 30, 2003