THE full scope of the shambolic chaos in MAFF at the very beginning of the foot and mouth epidemic will be exposed on television tonight by the Channel Four documentary flagship programme Dispatches .

As we have reported on these pages several times, MAFF muddled through the crucial first two or three weeks of the outbreak because, the programme will allege, officials simply did not know what to do.

By the time firm action was taken, the outbreak was totally out of control and had spread from Cumbria to Devon. So far, the programme will say, compensation for farmers has reached almost £1 billion - and millions more will be needed.

See: Outbreak - The True Story of Foot and Mouth, Channel Four, 9pm.

Other developments include:

• Skipton and Ripon MP David Curry will today speak in the House of Commons to demand an extension of the deadline for small non-farming rural businesses to receive hardship grants. The deadline expired at the weekend.

• In the same vein, Yorkshire Forward, the regional regeneration agency, is inviting new applications for grants from a £1 million emergency fund. Contact Business Link, North Yorkshire: info.centre@northyorkshire.businesslink.co.uk

• In his annual summing up of the state of British farming, NFU president Ben Gill says that many more jobs will be lost in the industry - on top of 51,000 already gone in recent years - and that the average farmer earns just £5,200 per year.

• There were no new outbreaks in the Settle-Skipton-Clitheroe area overnight, although there was one near Whitby and two more in Cumbria.