FIGURES obtained by South Lakeland’s MP show that the average annual income for hill farmers in Cumbria has recovered from a low of £4,800 to £12,600 between 2008/9 and 2009/10.

Through a parliamentary question, Tim Farron, discovered that after years of struggle following the foot and mouth outbreak in 2007, there has been a rise as a result of improved sheep prices.

But he stressed that hill farmers were still earning considerably less than the national average for farmers working on less favoured areas.

The £12,600 figure is also lower than the average income of hill farmers in 2006 before the foot and mouth crisis.

The Westmorland and Lonsdale MP said: “I’m very pleased to see that hill farmers in Cumbria are starting to show real signs of recovery following the devastation caused by foot and mouth disease.

"However, our hill farmers are still well below the average UK salary and barely more than minimum wage.

“On top of that the significant increase in income seen over that last year is very finely balanced on the price of sheep which is constantly fluctuating and therefore our hill farmers’ income could easily suffer from unfair decreases again at any time.

“This shows how vital it is that we have a supermarket ombudsman to regulate prices and protect those farmers in Cumbria and across the UK in less favoured areas.”