AFTER all the anxiety and severe financial hardship they have suffered because of the foot and mouth disease epidemic, how encouraging it is to hear of farmers making a successful fight-back.

And it is even more heartening when it is staged by farm businesses from an area of East Lancashire that was among the areas worst-hit by this savage plague.

For the ground-breaking effort by 15 Ribble Valley dairy farmers to set up a co-operative to produce their 'own brand' product, Bowland Fresh Milk, has proved to be a great success just three months after being launched in the wake of the foot and mouth crisis.

The milk was swiftly lapped up by North West supermarkets and their customers and quickly became a top-selling line.

Now, in order to meet demand -- and in line with supermarket research findings -- new range of four-pint cartons of the co-operative's silver-top milk has been launched.

The milk is collected from the farms by the group's own tanker and taken for bottling and distribution to stores throughout the region of the Booth's supermarket chain.

Quality plays a prime role in the product's success, with the milk being produced to the highest standards of hygiene and animal husbandry.

And in contrast to the frequently-heard complaint from farmers about the

shelf-prices of their products in supermarkets having little relation to the prices they are paid, members of the Bowland Fresh Milk Co-operative receive a premium price for theirs.

This is just the sort of help which, combined with such a bold and enterprising self-help initiative, that could provide a model for farms and other rural business elsewhere to bounce back from the devastating blows that the foot and mouth delivered to the already-struggling countryside.

Everyone involved in this brave venture deserves praise and support.