But don't be fooled, beneath this tranquil scene the countryside is heaving with discontent. The moment is fast approaching when erupt it must. We have waited with bated breath the outcome of the summit' chaired by the Prime Minister Tony Blair to discuss Sir Don Curry's Policy Commission report, The Future of Farming and Food. This meeting, crucial to the future of British agriculture, attended by Margaret Beckett and others, was to discuss this important document and hopefully put into action immediately, concrete reforms. Well, not a bit of it. This gathering that was to prepare a strategy to save British agriculture was deemed to be of such unimportance it was allocated just a morning! Did they thrash out the Curry report? No, Mrs Beckett came as always with initiatives' she had prepared earlier. The only positive move was a green light for The Food Chain Centre, a crumb of comfort, but we need action now not words. That action must include addressing the differential between farmgate and retail prices, attend to the French ban on British beef, get DEFRA officials off farms and livestock markets and into airports and ports to stop illegal imports that will again introduce disease. It must cut red tape and ignore ridiculous directives from Brussels, allow the House of Lords to amend the Animal Health Bill, create marketing boards and realise that not all farmers will benefit from modulation funds. British agriculture is in crisis, it is time to stop talking and start doing. {{NEWS }}