Pig farmer Chris England, of Holtby: pig farmers have lost more money in the last 18 months than they made in previous 18 years

Farmers in North and East Yorkshire are facing further misery with two separate reports painting a picture of plummeting jobs and incomes.

The National Pig Association and the British Pig Executive today published a report claiming the continuing downturn could cost as many as 50,000 jobs nationwide - most of them in the countryside.

And the Rural Business Research Unit, at Askham Bryan College near York, has reported a huge drop in farm incomes in the last financial year.

The study, Farming In Yorkshire 1998/99, states that all farms in their Yorkshire sample have seen incomes fall by about £10,000 per farm.

Pig farmers saw a greater decline than other sectors, with output down by 34 per cent on the previous year. Sheep output fell by 27 per cent.

The other report out today, entitled The British Pig Industry Crisis: The Economic And Social Costs, claims some 25,000 people have been put out of work since 1998.

It suggests a further 24,000 jobs are under threat in the pig farming sector and in firms which rely upon the success of the pig industry for their own well-being.

Chris England, of Holtby, near York, whose family business raises something like 6,000 pigs, said: "It's the worst slump that I've ever known and I've been in the business for 16 years."

Mr England added: "The banks' assessment of the current crisis is that pig farmers have lost more money in the past 18 months than they made in the previous 18 years, so the last 20 years' work has been for nothing really. I really can't see a future for people such as ourselves, who are just specialist pig farmers, because there is no subsidy for the pig industry."

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