British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair has promised a long-term future for farming in Britain after the foot-and-mouth crisis is over.
He said once the disease had been eradicated he wanted further talks with supermarkets and farmers' leaders to chart a way ahead for the industry.
"Once this is over, we need to go back round the table again and sit and work it out on a long-term basis," Mr Blair told a session of local Labour Party supporters at an agricultural college in Gloucestershire.
His comments came after a farmer in the audience told how he dare not look at his stock every morning for fear of seeing signs of foot-and-mouth, but went on to ask what future he had anyway.
The Prime Minister said: "I don't know what the solutions are to all these long-term problems but I can offer a partnership to try and get there."
On the current outbreak Mr Blair added: "This is an incredibly difficult situation for farmers and our country at the moment."
PA