A CHINK of light for North and East Yorkshire's hard-hit farming community will be unveiled next week, the Evening Press can exclusively reveal.

Visiting York's Nestl factory Agriculture Minister Nick Brown said he had gained full funding for a new strategy announced following the farming summit with Prime Minister Tony Blair in March.

The plan included a three-year restructuring of the pig industry, with £26 million this year, compensation for dairy, beef and pig farmers, and support for hill farmers.

Details of the funding, from Chancellor Gordon Brown's comprehensive spending review (CSR), will be announced by Mr Brown on Monday.

But the Minister told the Evening Press it would mean some more money for hill farmers, and that other initiatives from the summit, including marketing and business makeovers, would be fully funded.

"It means we can have our pig restructuring scheme for years two and three," Mr Brown added.

National Farmers' Union (NFU) president Ben Gill, from Easingwold, said though the restructuring scheme money had previously been announced it hadn't been allocated by the Treasury, which was not always a foregone conclusion.

The cash was now ring-fenced, but he would wait for Monday's announcement before reacting further. Mr Gill added the pig plan was not yet agreed with the European Commission.

Mr Brown came under fire from Melbourne pig farmer John Rowbottom for "typical Labour spin" because the money had already been announced.

Mr Rowbottom, a member of the British Pig Executive and the National Pig Association's producers' committee, believed the sums would be £26 million in each year, subject to tough European conditions and including cash for farmers to leave the industry.

"That's not a very big deal," he said.

Mr Brown was responding to questions about tomorrow's Channel 4 programme Dying Breed, which highlights the plight faced by many farmers in North and East Yorkshire.

Mr Rowbottom hoped the documentary would alter the general public's opinion about the farming industry.

PICTURE: VISIT: Agriculture minister Nick Brown, second right, with, from left, York MP Hugh Bayley, Nestl chairman and chief executive Peter Blackburn, and NFU president Ben Gill Picture: Mike Tipping