The idea of a website set up by the Department of Healthcare Psychology at Airedale Hospital to help struggling farmers cope with stress seems on the face of it to be an excellent idea. Farming is a difficult enough job at the best of times. Even in normal circumstances, farmers are under such pressure that one in ten of them is reported to be in need of anti-depressants.

Obviously and tragically, these are not normal circumstances. As foot-and-mouth disease strikes down one farm after another, those who earn their livings in this beleaguered industry are left reeling. Families who normally work in relative isolation are even more cut off from neighbours by the need to stay on their farms. They cannot meet up on market days to compare notes and grumbles and let off steam.

They must sometimes feel trapped, and are bound to grow increasingly desperate if the crisis continues and stocks of winter fodder start to run out as their bank balances dwindle.

So it is good that there is to be a website put in place which will give them access to practical advice on coping with stress as well as information on available resources.

The one question mark has to be over just how many farmers, particularly those with small and not very profitable farms, have access to the internet. It is to be hoped that the trust has done its homework properly to make sure the £4,000 it is spending is being used to get to the people who are most in need of help.