LORD Whitty has been forced to admit this week that there are plans being considered to introduce a certification system for farming and he confirmed that farmers could in future be subjected to "a combined standards inspection".

In so doing, this Government once again displays its complete lack of understanding of the countryside and introduces radical new measures without any discussion with our industry.

The NFU deputy director, Ian Gardiner, said that they had not even been approached by the Government.

In defence of the proposals, Lord Whitty said that all the existing inspections could be wrapped up into one and extended to include biosecurity and environmental protection.

What we need is less regulation - not more bureaucracy - otherwise farming will end up being run by regional DEFRA departments; and I dread to think what it will look like with their track record of FMD management and BSE experiments.

Last week, the Government announced the lifting of restrictions on 8,000 farms and this week a further 3,000 were added to the list but the overall effect in North Yorkshire is negligible.

We were given a written undertaking by DEFRA that counties would be declared 'Free' provided there had been no confirmed cases for three months.

The last outbreak in North Yorkshire was on August 17 and yet the whole of the county, apart from Selby, still has a 'High Risk' status or worse.

Meanwhile, we are suffering the miserable hardship of movement licences with blood tests for sheep and the severe limitation of not being able to get stores from outside of Yorkshire.

The regional director of operations is Nafees Meah, who believes the current rate of lifting controls will be reassuring to farmers. Apparently, one of the reasons for the holdup is that the cleaning and disinfection has not yet been completed on several hundreds of farms which have been culled.

This must be quite staggeringly incompetent as, by definition, over three months has expired since the last animals were culled. My simple question would be: "What sort of biosecurity risk does this present? - and if there is none, why cannot we return to normal trading?"

Having provided this service at York for animals to be gathered since last June, we have processed over 3,000 cattle and a lot of sheep.

For those that don't know, the collection centres at York, Thirsk and other markets allow local farmers to bring their stock for onward transmission direct to slaughter: and the system has many advantages:

- The farmer saves time and money with the shorter distance to travel.

- There are far fewer vehicles travelling long distances across the country. For example, on Monday there were 60 incoming vehicles but only eight larger lorries leaving the market.

- For the benefit of buyer and seller, the stock can be sorted to suit the purchaser's requirements and to provide better returns for the producer.

- Slaughter houses only have to deal with a single vehicle instead of many farm trailers.

Regardless of all the above, which generally seems in the interest of biosecurity, DEFRA has embarked upon a campaign just in the last three weeks to scrutinise our procedure, despite the fact that we have not only a written licence but also constant supervision by four MLC staff and a trading standards officer.

I don't know whether we shall survive this latest purge which is culminating in a further official visitation to today's machinery sale.

One accountancy firm has warned about a mass exodus from farming the like of which the industry has not seen since the Industrial Revolution. 2002 is going to be the most testing year, following a miserable harvest and the heartache of FMD.

As cash flow falters and banks tighten the rein, some farmers are going to be faced with the inevitable decision to give up; but we mustn't forget the accompanying tax consequences.

In giving up business and agricultural property, we lose the protective umbrella of the tax reliefs currently available. Whatever the state of the profit and loss account, there are still the grasping tentacles of capital gains and inheritance tax waiting to catch you. There is a clear message to take professional advice as early as you can and plan ahead.

- This month, Private Eye has published a report on FMD written by Christopher Booker and researched by Dr Richard North. It provides an amazing insight into the progress of the disease and the reaction by DEFRA.

Each section of the magazine concludes with a lengthy comment headed: "What they didn't want us to know". I recommend it to you for the price of £1.50

- Sow meat is now being exported to the continent on a weekly basis and this has stabilised prices at around 50p/kilo deadweight.

- As far as I can gather, no actual export of sheep meat has yet taken place but the anticipation of it has given a boost to prices.

- This Saturday sees the farmers market at York Livestock Centre and there will be another tremendous show of over 70 stalls.

With the sad departure of Charlie Breese, the responsibility for marketing rests firmly on the shoulders of Paul Morse and Keith Warters with the OTM mantle falling to Philip Place.

Trade is rising at different speeds with all species and it is pretty vital that you make contact to check on the daily situation.

Pigs have taken a lift and there is very little now under 100p/kilo and the best quality lightweights can be heading towards 110p/kilo.

After their recent rapid rise, lamb prices have stabilised this week at around 185-195p/kilo with the odd batch of Continentals going up to £2.

Cull ewe prices have also held at 90-100p/kilo provided there is some flesh.

With cattle there are shorter supplies and more demand which has brought with it the prospect of better deals for producers.

I can only issue a health warning to you about the danger of going it alone.

One producer proudly rang me to announce that he had sold his batch of Friesian bulls with the odd Continental at a flat rate of 140p/kilo. What he didn't know was the dressing specification of the abattoir, and neither the deductions nor the haulage charge to Blackpool! Furthermore, the price of 'P' grade cattle is now around 140p with 'O+' grades at over 150p.

Continental clean cattle are scarce and the big Intervention types are running from 165-168p/kilo with smaller heifers on an 'R' grade now quoted at 170p.

Please give us a ring for more information.

Help us to help you and phone our help lines at Malton on (01653) 697820/692151 and York on (01904) 489731.

Updated: 09:00 Thursday, November 22, 2001