Beleagured farmers are desperate to harvest some good news. The seeds have been sown: European veterinary surgeons voted in favour of lifting the British beef ban; the Government has made some encouraging noises about compensation; even the beef-on-the-bone ban might be reconsidered.

Now there is nothing farmers can do but sit back and wait to see what develops.

But they cannot afford to wait long. For some it is already too late. Many farmers have already gone out of business.

Hundreds of others are on the brink of bankruptcy. And it is not just the farmers themselves who lose when they go out of business. The whole rural community suffers.

On Tuesday night we published a photograph of a large banner posted by the side of the A19 near Easingwold, urging motorists to 'Save Our Bacon - Buy British'. This was the work not of the landowner, but farm worker Sean Gell.

He is one of many thousands of agricultural workers facing an uncertain future. Devoting hours of his own time to the task of creating the 14ft high banner was his contribution to the fight to save British farming.

It is just one example of an excellent campaign by the industry. In particular, National Farmers' Union leader Ben Gill has co-ordinated the crusade with great skill and efficiency.

Mr Gill's efforts have impressed upon the Government the seriousness of the situation.

Last night he met with Tony Blair and agriculture minister Nick Brown, and came out with an apparent promise of £50 million of extra help.

The Prime Minister appears to have been convinced of the case for further aid to the farmers.

Much of the credit for that can go to Mr Brown, a man whose private life has been raked over in recent days but whose professionalism has won the respect of farmers.

Mr Brown is the first agriculture minister for some years who has been prepared to listen to the farmers and lobby on their behalf.

As well as the predicted Government support, the European Union looks set to lift the export ban on British beef.

That would be just the double boost the industry needs.

It is still early days.

But if farmers were able to reap a crop of good news in the next few weeks, it might enable them to plough on rather than sell up. Back our call - buy British meat

A Gazette & Herald Campaign

Click the logo

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.