THE GREAT YORKSHIRE SHOW

A cattle traceability scheme, which could be the main step towards lifting of the British beef export ban, could be up and running in England by September.

This was forecast by the Agriculture Minister, Elliot Morley, at the opening day of the Great Yorkshire Show.

Mr Morley was keen to reassure farmers that the Government was doing all it could to help them after demands made by NFU president Ben Gill.

Both men visited the Great Yorkshire Show on its first day and Mr Gill called for action to tackle the impact of the strong pound on farming communities.

He also urged the Government to press for an end to the beef ban as soon as possible.

Mr Morley said it was only a matter of time before the ban was lifted.

He said: "The EC has recommended it be lifted, which is a major breakthrough. The ban will be lifted, it is just a question of when."

He said there was no magic button to reduce the strength of the pound, but acknowledged that sectors like agriculture did not benefit.

"We have given special help to sectors like livestock this year and have given £85 million in extra grants."

He also revealed the Forestry Commission was increasing its start-up grants to farmers wanting to move into alternative crops like fast willow coppicing.

The grants would encourage farmers to grow clean, green fuel to supply Europe's first commercial wood-burning power station of its kind, being built at Eggborough, near Selby.

Meanwhile, after weeks of gloom and grey skies the sun came out for the first day of the show and as the day wore on, the temperatures got warmer.

By late afternoon many visitors took to sunbathing on the showground lawns as a break from watching the many competitions going on around them.

Crowds flocked to the main grandstand to watch the shows and poured into the exhibitors' tents to watch demonstrations and sample produce.

Yorkshire Agricultural Society member and press steward Lady Ingilby said: "We are very pleased with the attendance. The weather has held out and the wind is quite fresh, which is nice and cooling for the animals.

"There have been some very worthy prize winners and quite a few of them from our region, which is always good to see.

"We have been moving towards spreading attendance over three days rather than everyone turning up on the first day, but I am sure today's figures will be in keeping with last years."

The main problem on the roads, apart from the usual traffic queues, came after a gas leak had to be repaired in Wetherby Road.

Engineers were called in to repair the leak early in the morning, but it turned out to be a bigger job than anticipated and one lane of the road had to be closed off while the road was dug up.

Acting Chief Inspector Nigel Morgan, of Harrogate Police, operations manager for the show, said the only other incident had been a demonstration by animal rights protesters outside Sainsbury's in Wetherby Road.

The banner-waving demonstrators were campaigning against vivisection.

But Chief Insp Morgan said: "They have been relatively quiet and there has been very little police involvement, with at most eight people there."

He said the rest of the day had gone smoothly with no problems within the ground.

It was a relatively trouble-free day for ambulance attendants, too - only three people were taken to hospital for minor injuries and there were 27 reported casualties.

St John Ambulance County Commissioner John Morley said the weather had been a factor.

"The wind has kept the casualties down. This year we have no cases of sunburn and no cases of hypothermia, it has been just right."

Visitors from all over the country enjoyed the first day as well as more than 100 visitors from overseas, including China, Australia and Jamaica.

Closer to home, there were several local winners in the first day's judging including the Bedfords, from Chequer Hall Farm, Escrick, and from Sheepwalk Farm, Deighton, in the horse classes, RH Mason, of the Grange, Wold Newton, Driffield, in the cattle classes, MJ King, of Kensington Woodlands Farm, Rillington, in the sheep classes, and A Gregory and Son, of Selby, in the pig classes.

Famous faces could also be seen among the throng, including veteran TV presenter John Craven and Style Challenge presenter John Leslie in the fashion stand as well as showjumpers Robert Smith, John Whitaker, Michael Whitaker and Geoff Glazzard.

Top chefs, including Simon Shaw, from Harvey Nichols in Leeds and Susan Brookes of Yorkshire Television were also at the show in the Sainsbury's Country Cookery Theatre.

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