WORCESTERSHIRE farmers can look forward to their future with confidence, their union president told them.

NFU chief Ben Gill said the summer show would do much for the industry recovering from the debilitating effect of the foot-and-mouth.

"It's been a blow that the Three Counties Show couldn't go ahead as normal with livestock," he said.

"But it's still very important for farmers to meet others in the industry to be able to move ahead, because to miss an opportunity to do so would be to go back.

"One way to ensure recovery is for Worcestershire shoppers to pack their trolleys with British Lamb.

"There are now about 60 million people in Britain, give or take," Mr Gill added.

"If everyone ate just a pound extra lamb each year - that's two meals - then 30,000 tons more lamb would be consumed.

"Despondency that prices will drop because of imports is false.

With the shoppers' help, we can put prices back to what they should be in the near future."

While he admitted foot-and-mouth had shattered the county, he urged the public not to forget about farmers who had escaped the outbreak.

"They will be held up on their farms for several months, not able to sell stock.

"There are hundreds of farmers across this country who have no income for four, five, or six months."

Speaking three days before the six-month anniversary of the outbreak, Mr Gill warned the Government to guard against a lengthy public inquiry.

It's not helpful," he told a packed press conferences yesterday.

"A lot has been made about a public inquiry.

"When I asked members what they want they tell me they want to know the facts quickly, for everyone needs to be interviewed and this thing to be brought to a close.

"We can't afford the luxury of a two or three-year inquiry," he said

"We want to know what's gone wrong now. We must get back on our feet and move forward."