Many farmers across the region will be hit hard when their subsidy system changes, with payments to some in danger of dropping from £16,000 to just £4,000 a year.

A plea has been made to the government on behalf of farmers around Barnard Castle, County Durham, to have the changes toned down to save them from ruin.

Phil Barber, secretary of the NFU in Teesdale, said: "There is a real danger that some farmers will be forced out of business and their land abandoned.

"I feel that if the proposals go through about 20 per cent of our local farmers will end up severely worse off."Many of those which survive will have to make some of their workers redundant Hill dairy farms will be particularly badly effected.

"There are about 300 farms in Teesdale at the moment. The total has been dropping steadily, but I think the decline will speed up."

"We have been told the new system will be phased in over a few years to ease the hardship. But I know of farms where the annual subsidy will drop from £16,000 to £4,000, and that will cause hardship even with the phasing."

In the past, subsidies were based on the number of cattle and sheep kept but under new proposals to start next January it will be based on the acreage of each farm.

Mr Barber explained: "Lowland farms are due to get around £220 a hectare, while upland farms will get £75 a hectare."The big losers will be those which have a lot of stock on small but productive farms.

"Some upper dale farms have huge areas of land including moors with hardly any stock on them. Their subsidies will shoot up, but the fear is that landlords will put up their rents and thus get all the benefits."

He and a group of dale farmers met Mr Derek Foster MP on Friday, and he promised to urge the government to bring in a fairer system.No decision on this is expected before the end of April.

The situation has farmers on the alert across the region and concerns are also spreading in North Yorkshire.

Rodney Kettlewell, who farms near Bedale, said: "The idea behind the changes is right because the old subsidy system couldn't carry on as it was.

"But the problem is that some farmers are going to lose out a lot while some are going to gain. Basically they are combining two old systems and it is going to be tougher for those on the uplands."