New Government figures showing yet another dramatic slump in farm incomes are a further "soul-destroying" blow to the agriculture industry, according to Ben Gill, president of the National Farmers' Union (NFU).

Mr Gill, who farms near Easingwold, said the figures showed that farm incomes had now fallen for five years in a row - by 72 per cent since 1995.

He said: "After living through the last 12 months of misery, there will not be many in the industry who are surprised at these latest figures.

"It is soul-destroying for farmers and growers who are trying to work their way through this recession.

"The primary cause of this crisis is the strong pound, which has hurt our exports and sucked in food produced abroad.

"The Government must face up to the fact that its economic policy is responsible for this."

Provisional figures, released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), showed a 29 per cent fall in the real value of total income for farming, from £2.4 billion in 1999 to £1.71 billion in 2000.

Mr Gill said this was equivalent to £7,500 per farmer to cover both salary and the return on business investment.

He said the desperate downward trend showed clearly the importance of the industry's work on initiatives like the British Farm Standard red tractor logo for food, in order to improve returns for British farmers.

Though the MAFF figures did not provide breakdowns for each sector of the industry, NFU work has revealed that those hardest hit were in the dairy and arable sectors.