SUPPORT and practical help for farmers is being offered by local churches in connection with the Farm Crisis Network who aim to contact all farms in the foot and mouth exclusion zone area within the next few days.
Northlew Methodist Minister Reverend John Peak said a grocery service was being set up so shopping could be delivered to the farmer's gate.
'We are concerned about the practical implications as well as the emotional ones for farmers who do not wish to leave their farms,' he said.
'By arranging a mobile phone link a volunteer can purchase the shopping and phone the farmer when they get to his/her gate.'
The Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution is backing the scheme and can offer financial help to farmers suffering extreme hardship at this particular time.
Rev Peak said as so often in a crisis, the best of human behaviour comes to the fore and he had already heard of neighbours, who were stranded at home, keeping in daily contact on the phone.
'The greatest emotional problem in a situation like this is the fear that comes from isolation,' he said.
'We are social beings and the need to talk to others is always there, never more so than when we are under stress.'
Rev Peak can be contacted on 01409 221252 for further information. The nationwide Farm Crisis Network Helpline is 07002 326 326.
l The Bishop of Exeter has urged parishes across the county to pray for the farming community, in what he described as 'a body blow' to farmers.