It is claimed by industry experts that British food will be off the menu within 27 years if farming continues to die out. Shops will stock only imported food �“ which means that the celebrated full English breakfast would feature eggs from Spain and bacon and sausages made from Chinese pork.

The industry continues to decline as youngsters reject the lifestyle, said Lantra, the farming skills council. This is perhaps not surprising considering the hardships faced by the industry in recent years coupled with an apathetic, if not hostile, government.

A spokesman said: “With the industry losing 15,900 workers per year, we predict that by 2035 the farmer could be extinct, meaning Britain will lose its self-sufficiency.”

This disclosure follows short-sighted Government plans to rely heavily on imports to safeguard Britain’s food supply. Official policy states: “Domestic production is neither a necessary nor sufficient condition for food security.”

However one agricultural expert responded: “This approach threatens to exacerbate the food shortages around the world. We should be looking to optimise domestic production.”

Reacting to Lantra’s report, the National Farmers’ Union said yesterday: “We believe agriculture, and those that work within the industry, have a very bright future.”

“Not under a Labour regime or within the EU it hasn’t” countered a spokesman for the BNP’s Land & People �“ “Britain’s farmers can only thrive outside the EU and under a government dedicated to self-sufficiency in agriculture”.