THE farming industry faces another decade of desperate struggle, warns the manager of Hawes auction mart.

Maurice Hall said he was not optimistic about the future of agriculture over the next ten years and feared Government indecision and failure to appreciate what rural life was about would continue to make matters worse.

"The patient is still in intensive care," he told Richmondshire business forum during an assessment of how the district was recovering following last year's foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Hawes mart had effectively been closed down for 12 months as a result of the disease and trading since re-opening was vastly reduced.

Store cattle numbers for 2002 were 41pc down on the same period in 2000; dairy cattle down 64pc; rearing calves down 51pc; over-30-month beasts down 20pc; prime sheep down 33pc; store sheep down 76pc and breeding sheep down 21pc.

Some of this was due to a reduction in the number of animals around following foot-and-mouth but the main reason was the regulations governing livestock trading.

"It is now virtually impossible for farmers to trade through auction marts," Mr Hall told the meeting in Richmond on Monday.

"Farmers have been encouraged to sell from farm to farm or directly to abattoirs and all sorts of obstacles, including the 20-day standstill rule, have been placed in the way."

A review of livestock movement regulations by Defra, due in January, was unlikely to ease the situation, he said. He believed the chief veterinary officer and scientists would not be convinced that circumstances had changed enough to relax the regulations.

Mr Hall urged ministers to concentrate on keeping foot-and-mouth out of the UK, rather than simply looking at how to deal with a future outbreak.

In spite of prices at the mart being significantly higher than in 2000, this was down to the post-foot-and-mouth shortage of animals, and it was highly likely that the auction mart company would be worse off at the end of this year than it was two years ago.

"The figures are fairly frightening and I am not optimistic about the future for dales farming," said Mr Hall.

"These higher prices can't be sustained because farmers will get restocked and the money they received in payment for culled stock will run out."

One post-foot-and-mouth success story was that of the McIntyre Meats abattoir, opened earlier this year near Bainbridge.

Lindsey McIntyre told the meeting customers came from across the North, including one from Lincolnshire, who said he was unable to find the full slaughter and cutting service in a larger plant.

The abattoir had gained a Freedom Food licence and now employed four full-time and five part-time staff as well as Mrs McIntyre and her husband, Martin.

Jim McRobert, of Rejuvenate, a self help group set up at the outbreak of foot-and-mouth to help farmers and others affected, said members would continue to lobby ministers and Government policy advisers about regulations, in particular the 20-day standstill.

"We are determined that we are not going to be beaten," he said. "There is a lot of fight and determination and the grit of the dales people should not be under-estimated.