Farm owners in the district are still struggling with declining profits.

The latest Annual Farm Profits Survey by the Institute of Chartered Accountants' Farming and Rural Business Group also reveals many are trying to sell their business.

The survey, which covered 244 farms and 41,242 hectares in the region, found farm profits per hectare have continued to fall from £130 to £125 - a drop of four per cent for the year.

One in five chartered accountants said their farming clients continued to report losses averaging almost £33,000 a year. Last year the figure stood at £33,500.

Nearly 60 per cent of the chartered accountants questioned in the survey said they believed farmers were increasingly trying to leave the industry.

Nearly 90 per cent reported fewer children were taking over family farm firms.

Economic prospects for farmers over the next 12 months are seen as bleak, with 41 per cent of those surveyed forecasting a worsening situation and a further 37 per cent predicting no change.

Nearly half of the farms included in the survey have already introduced capital from outside farming to keep their businesses afloat.

Peter Bradbury, a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales Farming Group, said: "There are some reservations among the next generation about how good a living farming might provide in the future, especially when coupled with a sideways look at the lifestyles of their peer group - but farming has never been an easy life."