More and more farmers have to get second jobs to supplement their income, the NFU said today.

The union's comments followed the release of government census figures which showed 9,200 farm workers took on extra employment to keep businesses afloat last year and 3,200 left full-time agriculture altogether.

A total of 60,000 jobs have been lost in the UK's agricultural and horticultural industry over the last three years, said the NFU, and nearly 3,000 farmers went part-time in 2001.

NFU president Ben Gill said: 'These figures are a stark reminder of what is happening out there. Britain's farmers are now working longer and longer hours, often on their own, and many with second jobs to contend with, just to keep the farm going. This is not sustainable.' He added: 'I fear we are building real problems for the future for parts of the country and in particular sectors simply because of a lack of people on the land.' The census figures, which were published on the Defra website and covered the 12 months to June 2001, also showed declines in the UK's cropped area.

Provisional census figures were released last year.

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