A CENTURY old local farming business has fallen victim to the uncertain times plaguing the farming industry.

Pye Bibby Agriculture, which has served farmers for over 100 years and employs more than 200 people in Lancaster, has gone into administration.

But jobs at the animal farm feed company, based on Lansil industrial estate, are safe.

The firm has been quickly snapped up by Carrs Billington Agriculture, of Carlisle, it was confirmed yesterday (Tuesday).

The company also owns plants at Langwathby, Shrewsbury and Blackburn and plans to close three of its four mills.

But Chris Holmes, chief executive of Carr's Milling Industries, told the Citizen jobs at Lancaster are safe.

"Lancaster is the most modern and the most efficient mill in the UK and so we are looking to transfer the volume there. The jobs are safe," he promises.

He also says the takeover will give certainty to Pye Bibby customers and suppliers who have had 'serious concerns about the business' over the last few months.

Pye Bibby Agriculture, also formerly known as Pye Farm Feeds and W and J Pye, looked like it was going from strength to strength when it acquired Frankland Balanced Feeds, on the city's Lune industrial estate, in 1999, took over Fishers Ruminant Feeds in 2000 and then the Bibby brand and related mills in 2003.

It also forked out £1.2 million for a new blend plant at the Lansil site. But the introduction of the Single Farm Payment has cast a shadow over the farming industry.

A spokesman for the National Farmers Union says the Government introduction of the Single Farm Payment has created uncertainty because farms now receive payments for the area of land they have and how they manage it rather than on livestock numbers.

"This has meant some farms have scaled down and others have changed focus - which means firms such as farm feeds and fertilisers lose out."

The NFU is currently lobbying the Government to bring forward payment from next February to December so farmers and their suppliers do not have to wait to receive money.

In 2003, Pye Farm Feeds bought the Bibby brand from ABNA and took over six animal feed mills, which was seen as a 'positive response' to changes in the livestock sector.

But from the beginning of the year, Pye Bibby has been selling off its mills and in February sold off its southern section to Southern Valley Feeds.

It was hoped the sale would allow the company to focus on its traditional trading area in Northern England, Scotland and Wales.