Sir Don Curry's team looking into the Future of UK Food and Farming will burn up the miles as it races to meet Tony Blair's tight deadline.Yet a trip to Belfast this week would have allowed it to wrap up much of its fact-finding work in a single visit. The Congress of European Agriculture, or to give it a more appropriate title, the Congress of European Food and Agriculture, was no simple whingeing session by a group of farmers out to decry progress and lament the loss of the halcyon days of harvest picnics and grinning, red-cheeked milkmaids. More a focussed business summit seeking to address the massive challenges of the sector in the years to come. So it was a pity that more branches of the UK food chain in particular did not make the short trip for what would have been three illuminating days. True, representatives of major suppliers, multiples and industry bodies were at the Congress, as was a powerful line-up of European and global political figures. But it was DEFRA secretary of state Margaret Beckett who most effectively spelled out the stark scenario to the farming community and the rest of the chain when she warned that we need to break free of the "one-size-fits-all uniformity of the CAP". In a style reminiscent of hard man Jack Cunningham at his sternest, Mrs B almost gave the impression she had made her own mind up about the way ahead for the food and farming business, irrespective of what Sir Don's team may recommend on December 31. Yet, given the bleak picture confronting the the food chain and the farmers in particular, her "tell it as it is" approach was right. Trouble is, there were many in the audience who, despite Beckett's obvious passion, still doubt DEFRA's understanding of the real issues at hand. Sectoral meetings of minds must be swiftly combined in a single, special industry summit once Sir Don's team have delivered their conclusions at the end of the year. As one realistic farmer put it to a UK multiple executive in Belfast: "We're all in this together." Clive Beddall, Editor {{OPINION }}