The crisis in farming has been going on for so long that it is easy for those not directly involved to be dismissive of the problem. A new TV documentary, however, is telling the human story of the crisis, and JOHN LAVABRE spoke to some of the farmers from Ryedale featured in the programme.

HE NEVER thought it would happen, but former hill farmer John Fawbert now cleans toilets to make ends meet.

John, from Kirkbymoorside, is one of several North Yorkshire farmers to feature in Dying Breed, a three-part documentary which tells the human cost of the farming crisis.

The 55-year-old father of two, who farmed near Hutton-le-Hole, was filmed at York livestock market the day he sold his flock of sheep.

Some of them fetched as little as £2.50 an animal, half the cost price.

"You have to grin and bear it," said John, who claimed to be a "born and bred farmer."

Nic Guttridge, assistant producer of Dying Breed, moved to Easingwold from London while making the documentary for Channel Four.

He said: "This is a story that needed to be told. I am a townie and had some popular misconceptions about what farming was all about.

"You can see that when a pig farmer says he is losing money on every pig he rears, he actually is. That's quite a shocking thing."

Andy Fawbert, John Fawbert's brother, also features in Dying Breed. He is still a hill farmer, but admits times are hard.

"If it was not for subsidies, hill farmers would not be able to carry on," he said.

Andy is supportive of his sibling's ability to find work and get on with life: "I would rather have a brother who is prepared to work cleaning toilets for a living than be on the dole," he said.

The first episode of Dying Breed was shown on Sunday on Channel 4.

As well as the Fawbert brothers, it featured Johnny Piercy, a pig farmer from Sutton-on-the-Forest.

Johnny explained his involvement with Dying Breed: "When I first decided to do this programme, there had been six months of depressed pig prices. This happens, it's a cycle, but many other things happened and they just happened to be here filming."

Johnny, 57, a farmer since the age of 15, bought his farm with plans to hand it on to Martyn, his 25-year-old son. But times have been so hard that some of the land has been sold, production on the farm is two-thirds what it was and Mr Piercy has encouraged Martyn, a cricket enthusiast and successful amateur footballer, to take on other work.

Martyn now works as a builder and helps out on the farm part-time.

It is a similar story for dairy farmer Paul Dunn, from Helmsley. A third generation farmer, Paul and his family now live on Family Credit benefit.

"I got involved in this programme to show the general public what's happening in the farming industry. I have an especially good idea because I have kept a diary for 41 years listing prices we have received for milk and other things," he said.

Asked if he could blame his children for not wanting to be farmers, Paul, a Methodist preacher, replied: "No, I couldn't."

The first episode of Dying Breed was shown on Sunday, July 23, on Channel 4. The following episode will be shown on Sunday, July 30, at 8pm and the final episode, also at 8pm, will be on Sunday, August 6.

PICTURE: CRISIS HIT: John Fawbert, a former Kirkbymoorside farmer who now cleans toilets, featured in a tv documentary on Sunday, Dying Breed, about the farming crisis.