NORTH Yorkshire hill farmers have been told of the NFU's call for urgent changes to the livestock movement regulations

During a visit to the area, the union vice-president, Michael Paske, met 20 farmers at Leyburn auction mart to hear their concerns and brief them on what the NFU was doing.

A number of the farmers said their businesses were being severely disrupted by the 20-day standstill rules implemented following foot-and-mouth.

Mr Paske told the meeting: "We are waiting for the outcome of Defra's risk assessment reviews of the 20-day standstill, but we are also working to persuade Defra to adopt more appropriate controls.

"The last case of foot-and-mouth in this country was more than a year ago, yet the livestock industry is still shackled with burdensome regulation disproportionate to the risks involved."

He said the NFU had recently conducted a survey of 200 cattle farmers to assess what impact problems with the British Cattle Movement Service's database and record keeping had had on businesses.

"Our advisers are now talking to BCMS with the feedback from this survey to get these problems resolved," he said.

Other farmers at Leyburn complained that the 2p a litre increase on milk, which retailers had asked to be passed back to producers, had not been paid to them in full. Mr Paske said the NFU was still talking to everyone in the milk chain to ensure the promised increase was passed back to producers.

The dairy producers present also heard about the NFU's day of action in Northallerton this autumn when it highlighted the 9p a pint producers received for milk - just a quarter of the average retail price.

Mr Paske was visiting Leyburn as part of a two-day visit to North Yorkshire and Co Durham.

During the meeting, he explained that the NFU was working to ensure that any support payments lost through modulation were returned to the farming industry, and to ensure that environmental schemes were accessible to all farmers.

He also spoke about the NFU's work to highlight the threat from illegal imports which are believed to have caused the foot-and-mouth outbreak last year.

"We are beginning to see the UK and EU making changes to their legislation," he said. "It's a long haul, but we do seem to be getting somewhere with it.