NORTH Yorkshire's farmers must change their methods to survive the crisis affecting their industry, rural business experts have said.

The warning comes just days before a hard-hitting Channel 4 documentary called Dying Breed hits television screens, highlighting the industry's hard times.

But some of the beleaguered farmers who feature on the programme say the 'adapt or die' message from the Institute of Chartered Accountants farming group is easier said than done.

Among the delegates at the group's annual conference was Nigel Atkinson, a farming specialist and partner with York chartered accountants Hunter Gee and Holroyd.

Mr Atkinson said: "The situation is critical and the message which came over loud and clear was that the industry is facing a period of significant change."

A recent survey carried out by the farming group revealed some farmers are earning less than £200 a week.

At the conference, delegates heard about a range of diversification schemes - from Christmas tree production to breeding game birds for sport, and even turning farms into tourist attractions or venues for music festivals.

Mr Atkinson commented: "The unpalatable truth is that those who carry on farming as they did previously are likely to be in serious trouble."

But Johnny Piercy, a pig farmer featured in Dying Breed, has diversified by selling his own produce at farmers' markets in York, Leeds, Malton and Murton. He maintains diversifying is not a simple move.

"If everyone did it then we would all be cutting each other's throats," he said.

Mr Piercy added that British pig farmers had already changed their practices to meet welfare demands, but had lost their competitive edge as a result.

"We had to alter practices in the country and this put our prices up. The supermarkets preferred to buy cheaper stuff abroad which is not of the same standard," Mr Piercy said.

Chris England, a pig farmer from Holtby, features briefly in the first episode of Dying Breed, but features more in future programmes

With his farm, which lies in York's greenbelt, declared unviable by farming specialists, Mr England applied to build houses on it. The application was refused by City of York Council.

He commented: "It's all right to say diversify but it's not that easy. Old farmsteads feature pantile buildings which are OK for holiday cottages, but what do you do with specialist, intensive pig units?"

The call to change practices and diversify has been backed by the National Farmers' Union (NFU), although it recognises "things cannot be done at the drop of a hat."

"Diversification and changing farming practice are one of the main thrusts we are going on at the moment," said a spokeswoman for the NFU.

She said the trend would probably be for farms to get larger in size and for smaller farms to work together to see out the crisis, although other measures were being taken to encourage diversification.

"The Government is spending £6.5m to fund farm business advisors. Each farm will receive a visit for up to three days from an advisor and identify areas their business can develop."

The spokeswoman said the NFU was working with other agencies, such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to promote this scheme.