THE cost of living may have escalated but farmers are not getting paid for their produce accordingly, says Castlemorton farmer Roger Jakeman.

Mr Jakeman began farming at Taylors Farm in 1955, selling potatoes, damsons, plums and cherries and livestock.

He said when he started in farming, selling fruit from just three trees would cover the cost of the business rates, then £6.10 a year.

"Now you have to sell the whole orchard," he said.

In those days, Mr Jakeman received between 10 to 18 shillings for a 12lb tray of plums - the equivalent of 50p to 90p today. This year he made from £1 to £1.20.

Equally, in the 1970s potatoes could fetch from £4 to £7 a sack. Mr Jakeman got about £5 a sack this year.

He said that, given the rising rate of inflation, the prices in farming were 'ridiculous'.

A major factor was supermarkets buying more produce from abroad where it is cheaper because labour costs less. It was impossible for small farms to compete, he said.

"You make a living if you do it yourself but you couldn't pay someone even the minimum wage to do it for you," he said.

Mr Jakeman said that people expected a wider choice of produce now and supermarkets had to provide it at the right price.

But he warned that if there was no improvement in prices for farmers, many would stop selling fruit and vegetables and locally-grown produce would no longer be available.

Russell Griffin, spokesman for NFU West Midlands, said: "While we increasingly sympathise with the difficulties farmers face surviving in an increasingly competitive marketplace, it is a common phenomenon that when the income of a society increases, the percentage of income devoted to agricultural products decreases

"This, coupled with an increase in the productivity and efficiency of the agricultural sector, results in the food becoming cheaper and cheaper to produce and therefore less profitable."

Mr Griffin advised farmers to add to the range of products they offered and to join together in collaborative ventures as major retailers often prefer to deal with a single supplier.