AGRICULTURAL advisor Peter Lawler from Aldbourne has come up with an idea that he believes could help prevent the spread of diseases like foot and mouth.

When there is an outbreak of farm disease, he said, it is virtually impossible for farmers to recall what visitors they have had in the preceding weeks.

If they had records of everyone who visited their farms it could help track down where the disease had come from or possibly prevent callers from spreading it to other farms.

Like all good ideas, father-of-two Mr Lawler's idea is a simple one.

He has designed a weatherproof box made in bright blue plastic which contains a visitors' book and a pen for all farm visitors to sign in and a space where callers or delivery drivers can leave paperwork.

In simple terms he describes his idea as "an unmanned reception desk".

Mr Lawler has called his device Farm Visitor Plus and it is available by mail order from his Aldbourne home, (01672) 541672.

His work as a self-employed agronomist who advises farmers on their crops and as an organic inspector, takes him to farms all over the country.

He said he visits as many as 200 farms a year but reckons that fewer than three per cent have any means of recording his visit.

It is his experience, he said, that other farm visitors including delivery drivers, sales representatives and vets rarely get asked to sign-in when they arrive at a farm.

If in the event of an outbreak of disease and he said some had a three week incubation period it was virtually impossible for the farmer to remember who all their visitors had been.

Yet one of the visitors, Mr Lawler said, could hold the key to how the disease was being conveyed from farm to farm and it was vital that they should be contacted and, if necessary, isolated.

In the few cases he had come across where farms kept a visiting book it was usually at the farmhouse and not in the farmyard where most deliveries are made and where the majority of callers head.

"Often in my experience the visitors' book, if a farm has one, is kept at the farmhouse and not in the farmyard."

The Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, which incorporates the former Ministry of Agriculture, code of practice recommends that all farms should have a visitors' book.

However, said Mr Lawler: "There is a national problem of farmers not recording who has been on the farm."

So far Mr Lawler said the take up for his Farm Visitor Plus has been fairly slow.

He said: "We have put out about 150 which is just the tip of the iceberg.

"If we can get say a thousand out there then it will start to go exponentially.

"When farmers see that other farms have them they will, hopefully, want to do the same."

He said the idea has the backing of a number of industry organisations, including DeFRA, the National Farmers' Union and the Soil Association.

Mr Lawler, who once worked as a herdsman at Aldbourne Farms for a nine year period, spends part of his time advising farmers on crop health.

He is also a farm inspector for both traditional and organic farms, and he said it was unusual to have a foot in both camps.

The Farm Visitor Plus is entirely British made and will be displayed at the Royal Show and the Bath and West Show this year.

Farm Visitor Plus, which can simply be mounted on any available wall or post, was a finalist in the Royal Show's new innovation awards. The kit can be ordered from (01672) 541672 or www. farmvisitorplus.co.uk.