BACK us or lose us. That is the message from a Malpas farmer to prime minister Gordon Brown.

Dairy farmer Barbara Hughes says only Government action can prevent more farms from closing.

Barbara, of Ivy House Farm, wants Defra and the Rural Payments Agency to support and protect English dairy farmers.

She is asking them to follow the lead of the Welsh Assembly and hand out early the Single Farm Payment to former Dairy Farmers of Britain(DFB) producers.

The DFB cooperative went bust last month, leaving thousands of farmers without anyone to supply their milk to.

On July 7 the Welsh Assembly said it would give 281 Welsh milk suppliers who were former DFB members 70% of their Single Farm Payment on October 16 rather than in December, when it was due, to give added support to those farmers who lost money in the cooperative collapse.

Barbara, who was a council member for DFB and is the National Dairy Chairman of the Women’s Food and Farming Union, said they will be suffering from the fallout of the DFB collapse for a very long time.

DFB farmers had invested thousands of pounds into the co-op which has now been lost and the majority of DFB farmers received no payment for milk in May and early June.

The result is they are all struggling and many are considering leaving the industry.

Barbara said: “We want Defra and the rural payment agency to follow the Welsh Assembly’s lead and help the English DFB producers.

“The Welsh Assembly are backing their farmers now we need someone to back us. If somebody doesn’t take action now we are going to see a further exodus from the industry.”