Pastor Cecil Perry, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Britain, has asked all Adventist churches in the United Kingdom to pray for Britain’s farming community in the wake of the foot-and-mouth epidemic that is devastating the county’s agricultural sector.

Adventist farmer David Colledge, of Carmarthen in West Wales, says: “We can all sympathize, but unless one is directly involved in farming, it is difficult to understand fully the distress this disease can cause.”

Colledge points out that many farms will soon be going through the lambing process, a busy time when ewes give birth to lambs. He says the disease will make it difficult to find the extra workers needed. The media has reported that at least one farmer has committed suicide over the ordeal precipitated by the foot-and-mouth epidemic. Support groups are forming to help farmers through the crisis, reports John Surridge, communication director for the Adventist Church in Britain.