FOOT and mouth disease helped push back the General Election by a month but hardly earned a mention during the campaign. This was the disease everyone wanted to go away, and not just for naked political reasons. Hopes were high that foot and mouth had been brought under control, so the disease more or less slipped off the news agenda.

Yet while the nightly headlines might have gone, the disease itself has certainly not disappeared. Slaughtering of animals continued over the weekend at Waites House Farm in Westerdale, near Whitby. Since infection was confirmed on Friday, farmer Paul Muir has seen the destruction of more than 500 sheep and some 70 cattle. His livestock have been culled with the now familiar but still brutal swiftness.

The outbreak at the heart of the North York Moors is of serious concern, leaving neighbouring farmers waiting to see if their livestock has also been infected. It also starkly illustrates that this region has not yet escaped.

Foot and mouth has had a very direct effect on farmers and a secondary effect on business. Trying to balance the conflicting interests of farming and tourism remains difficult. As Andy Wilson, chief executive of the North York Moors National Park Authority, points out tonight, the interests of farmers, residents, tourists and walkers have been carefully balanced. But Mr Wilson concedes: "This is getting more and more difficult."

As rural businesses struggle, there will be louder calls for the countryside to be fully opened up.

Such problems fall to a new political ministry. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries And Food has been rebranded by Prime Minister Tony Blair. A new department has been created bearing the acronym DEFRA - which stands for the Department for Environment, Food And Rural Affairs. Margaret Beckett, a steady and experienced Labour hand, is in charge as the Secretary of State for Farming, Food and Rural Affairs.

The scale of Mrs Beckett's task in the months ahead should not be underestimated.

Updated: 11:00 Monday, June 11, 2001