Yorkshire farmers are among the worst hit in a crisis that has seen incomes drop by 90 per cent, according to a report published today.

Accountants Deloitte and Touche say plummeting potato prices have caused the county's producers to be particularly hard hit.

Incomes have slumped to their lowest level since the firm began its survey five years ago, with the average profit achieved by its clients dropping by 90 per cent in the last five years.

The report says there is worse to come, with all the main sectors in UK agriculture, except root crops, forecast to record losses in the coming year.

The national average net farm income is now just £41 per hectare (£16 per acre) compared with £57 per hectare for 1998-99, and is forecast to fall below £22 per hectare next year.

James Craddock, of Deloitte and Touche's Leeds office, said nationally, its clients were earning ten per cent of what they were at their peak in 1995-96.

"For an average 500-acre farm this equates to a mere £8,000, which is not sufficient to support one family, let alone two, which is often the case for family farms.

"Unfortunately our Northern clients have fared less well than the national average, returning a net loss of £27 per hectare compared to a profit of £32 per hectare last year - the main reason being a higher proportion of potatoes grown on our Yorkshire farms were hit by plummeting free market potato prices."

Malcolm Beetham, a research officer in the rural business unit at Askham Bryan College said root crop farms in Yorkshire had gone from £369 per hectare to loss figures for 1999-2000 - and the same picture was true for other parts of the industry, including livestock.

Rob Simpson of the National Farmers' Union said latest figures showed that 22,000 farmers left the industry within 12 months. "In the Yorkshire area they have been particularly hit," he added.

Dunnington-based potato merchant Martin Cockerill was not surprised by the findings, though he said potato farmers could mitigate the situation by seeking contracts for their produce.

Ryedale Tory MP John Greenway said: "The whole farming industry is in absolute crisis. The Government has been warned time and time again, but has failed to heed the warnings."

National Farmers' Union President Ben Gill, from Easingwold, said the Deloitte and Touche report confirmed the desperate need for the Government to aid cereal farmers to compensate for the strength of the pound.

He added: "The report again illustrates the severity of the crisis affecting British agriculture and its impact on every farm in the country be it large or small.