Yorkshire Dales guardians are to lobby high ranking officials in Whitehall and Brussels to draw attention to the crisis facing upland farmers.

Dales farmers are set to lose millions of pounds when the European Union makes sweeping changes to its structural funding programme.

Yorkshire Dales National Park members will be asked on Thursday to set up a task force with orders to find ways to target further assistance to the agricultural community.

The European Union is set to scrap its Objective 5b funding programme which has pumped about £10 million in grants to the Northern uplands of England since 1995.

Adding further uncertainly to the upland economy is the expected major report of the Common Agricultural Policy.

A national park spokesman said: "Farming in the uplands is facing possibly its worst crisis ever.

"Stock prices have virtually collapsed and agricultural planners predict that only the larger farms will survive the triple whammy of the strong pound, cheap imports and reduced subsidies.''

Park members will be asked to lobby Whitehall and Brussels and to draw support from North Yorkshire County Council, the Association of National Park Authorities and the Europarc network, which brings together national parks from across Europe.

"Over the past 12 months the national park has been active in helping to draw attention to the difficulties facing upland areas and their dependence on continued EU support,'' he added.

Craven district councillor William Bradley, who farms at Wigglesworth, near Skipton, said: "Essentially we need to see increases in farmgate prices - that is the real solution.

"Any new funding could help, but only peripherally. We need to see the pound weakened to really make a difference.''

He welcomed the park's proposal to set up a task force and to concentrate on lobbying the EU and ministers at Whitehall.

Coun Robert Heseltine, chairman of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, said a group had been set up 15 months ago to look at the problem facing upland farmers in the Yorkshire Dales.

Its aim was to negotiate directly with Brussels over European structural reforms and reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.

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