DAIRY farmer Paul Kenny today grimly faced up to the reality of £50,000 losses in just 12 months and told the Government: "I can't go on."

The Ribble Valley dairyman was speaking after his case was spelt out to agriculture minister Nick Brown in Parliament by local MP Nigel Evans.

Mr Kenny, of Standridge Farm, Slaidburn, has written letters to three Prime Ministers since 1985 highlighting the plight of farmers.

He said his business lost £49,764 last year and claims that British dairy farmers will be forced out of business unless the Common Agricultural Policy is amended.

Mr Kenny said: "Farming is in the worst state it has ever been in my lifetime.

"In 1996 I got 29.13p for a litre of milk. Today I get just 17.2p per litre - a loss of 11.4p per litre in three years. Yet all my costs are going up. I cannot stand to make these losses any longer, and neither can any other farmers.

"I lost nearly £50,000 last year and I spoke to a farmer at Gisburn market last week who said he had lost £100,000 and had been forced to lay off his staff. "I am a proud man and I don't want any hand-outs. All I want to do is to sell my milk in a free market but the quotas say I can't.

"I have people queuing up to buy my milk but if I sell over my quota I have to pay 31p a litre to the Government.

"That means I have to pay to go to work. I doubt if Tony Blair would do that."

In October last year Mr Kenny was convicted of obstructing Intervention Board Officers who were investigating milk quotas.

He was fined £181 for refusing to let the officers drive down the lane to his farm, and for refusing to show them his herd book.

Mr Kenny has written to Mr Blair and agriculture minister Nick Brown and now has the backing of Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans.

In a commons debate Mr Evans pointed out that the objective of the Common Agricultural Policy was to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community, in particular by increasing the individual earnings of those involved in agriculture.

He said: "What hope can the Minister give Mr Kenny and other farmers in the Ribble Valley that they will be able to make a living out of farming?"

Mr Brown told him: "We want to be able to provide a future for United Kingdom farmers so that they can get a return on the enormous number of hours that they put in and a return on their investment. I would like to have achieved more."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.