Farming incomes lowest for 60 years
By David Brown, Agriculture Editor

FARM incomes have slumped by more than 20 per cent in Britain this year, according to figures to be announced by the Government today.

 This has wiped more than £500 million off incomes over the past 12 months - taking them to their lowest level in real terms for nearly 60 years. The figures are expected to show that total farming income has fallen below £2 billion compared with £4.8 billion in 1996, before the industry was swamped by the traumas of the BSE crisis and several other economic factors.

 Tim Yeo, the shadow minister of agriculture, said the "dreadful" statistics showed that the Government had not done enough to help farmers during the current economic crisis. He said: "It is pretty cynical to issue figures like this only 24 hours after publishing a rural development plan which did not address many key agricultural issues directly."

 Farmers' organisations will be poring over the Government figures later this morning. But Ben Gill, the president of the National Farmers' Union of England and Wales, gave a warning that key proposals in the Government's rural White Paper could not be turned into reality to help rural areas unless there was a prosperous agricultural industry.

 He said: "The proposals that are put forward in the White Paper will only work against the backdrop of a thriving British farming industry." Farmers have warned the Government that there is now so little money left for investment in farming that it would be difficult for many producers to take advantage of proposed easier planning regulations and to diversify their businesses in an attempt to increase their incomes.