NEW research has shown that most Britons have little or no idea where their food comes from.

It reveals that almost 90 per cent of people do not know that beer is made from barley and that some 20 per cent do not know yoghurt is made from milk.

More than one in ten people also think that rice is grown in this country and two-thirds of people have never even met someone who works on the land.

Now, armed with the survey results, the agriculture industry is fighting back with a campaign to try and "reconnect" the populace to the countryside.

At the launch, in York, yesterday, the National Farmers' Union regional director for Yorkshire and the North-East, Richard Ellison, said: "In today's world, the basic facts on food production and the countryside are no longer handed down from generation to generation."

Other key findings of the survey included the fact that two-thirds of people don't know sugar is grown in the UK, more than a third don't realise cherries are home-grown and almost one in ten think onions and tomatoes are exclusively foreign vegetables.

Nine out of the people have no family connection with farming, whereas just two generations ago nearly a quarter of the population had relatives in farming.

The campaign is the creation of 12 leading agricultural organisations and it aims to highlight the positive contribution farmers, growers and the wider industry makes to society as a whole.

A roadshow will be touring through the region to promote the initiative and answer the public questions and a range of publicity material, featuring the slogan "c/o British Farming" is being produced.