Anthony Bloor blamed tough European competition.

"We just couldn't compete with the cheaper European milk that's imported now," he said. "I could have struggled on but I wasn't making enough profit to make it worthwhile."

But the hardest decision was making four

"Laying off four men who I'd been working with for more than 20 years was very hard," he said. "I felt terrible but I had no choice."

Mr Bloor believes that successive governments are to blame for the downfall of British farming.

"I believe that they have made a conscious decision to wind down the farming industry just like they did with mining," he said.

The farmer has also cut the number of potatoes he grows by more than a half because manufacturers are now buying them from Europe.

He used to sell to food giants such as McCain and Walkers but they have found a better deal elsewhere.

Mr Bloor believes that he would have been more likely to keep growing potaoes and milking cows if he had a son to take over the farm when he reitred.

"I only have daughters and they aren't interested in farming," he said. "Looking after the farm takes a lot of hard work and it's not really worth it with no-one to hand it down to."

Mr Bloor also believes that people no longer take farmers' complaints seriously because they have 'moaned so much in the past'.

"Farmers have complained for years but now that it has got really bad no-one believes us," he said. "They think it's a case of the boy crying wolf."

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.