ACCORDING to a recent report, the UK’s farmers are facing a bigger crisis this year than the foot-and-mouth outbreak 12 years ago.

The difference between then and now is the breadth of the crisis. A freakishly wet summer followed by a long freezing-cold winter, the return of livestock disease, soaring animal feed prices and commercial pressures have left no area of the industry untouched.

Hill farmers, lowlands farmers and even arable farmers are all facing disaster.

So we applaud the efforts of the County Durham Community Foundation and Upper Teesdale Agricultural Support Services to rally round beleaguered upland farmers.

We know that many other sectors are going through tough times but that does not mean we should turn our backs on the agriculture industry.

Farmers do so much more than merely put food on our plates. They are the custodians of the countryside and the work they do has a massive impact.

If the fields of Upper Teesdale were filled with thistles and weeds, the dry stone walls crumbling and broken, and the public rights of way overgrown and hard to navigate no one would come to Barnard Castle to go walking on the fells. Everyone in the community, from the tea rooms to the pubs, would suffer.

The Helping Hands scheme will also provide valuable experience for the next generation of farmers. Together we can gave them the chance of a brighter future as the country – and the farming industry – recovers.