Agriculture Minister Nick Brown talks to Radio 4's Today programme

Agriculture Minister Nick Brown is expected to confirm about £100m of aid in response to what some commentators have described as the worst crisis in the rural economy since the 1930s.

The move follows talks last Wednesday when Prime Minister Tony Blair met farmers' leaders for more than an hour to hear their grievances.

The handouts due to be announced on Monday are intended to counteract the effect of the plummet in incomes experienced by UK farms over the last three years.

Mr Brown told the BBC he had listened very carefully to farmers and their views had shaped his planned announcement.

The BSE crisis is still costing farmers money

Reshaping industry

Just as the government gave support packages to inner cities, it was right to back up rural communities, Mr Brown told Radio 4's Today programme.

He said he wanted to press ahead with reform of the Common Agricultural Policy to reshape the farming industry to meet future challenges.

Agriculture Correspondent Margaret Gilmore: "This package comes too late for many small farms"

Even heavily diversified farms - usually considered the most resistant to crisis - have suffered badly in recent months.

Average earnings have fallen 80% since 1996, raising the prospect of thousands of farms going bankrupt with the loss of many thousands more jobs.

In 1996, the average farm's income before tax was £100,000 a year, compared with £12,000 in 1998.

The principle causes of the slump are the strong pound, which has made UK exports more expensive; the BSE crisis, which has destroyed the beef market; and a worldwide collapse in prices for farm produce generally.

NFU Deputy President Tony Pexton: "Package will be an absolute lifeline to a lot of businesses"

Farmers' union leaders are expecting Mr Brown to say he has won agreement from Chancellor Gordon Brown for the UK to seek money from a European Union fund which compensates farmers for currency fluctuations.

However, more than half that compensation will have to provided by the Treasury.

National Farmers' Union President Ben Gill: We wish we didn't need the money

Charles Haigh, an NFU delegate who breeds sheep, cattle and pigs on 350 acres near Leeds, said the cash was welcome but it was not a long-term solution.

He said: "It's very much an emergency package for a crisis situation.

"It seems to have taken an awful long time for the agriculture industry to get its message across that it's in trouble."

Carolyn Quinn: Farming's worst crisis for 60 years

Mr Haigh, aged 60, added: "The food industry is making huge profits but the raw material producers are actually losing money.

"What we need initially is some sort of strategy council to seek answers to the problems.

"Somehow we have to find a solution and work together so every link in the chain is making a profit. Without that the chain is not sustainable and that would be disastrous for everyone, especially the consumer."

Environment plea

Leading environmentalist Jonathan Porritt, director of Forum for the Future and an adviser to the Ministry of Agriculture, called for subsidies using taxpayers' money to be linked to help for the environment.

Jonathan Porritt: There is a consensus that we need reform of agricultural policy

In the long term, he said, reform of the Common Agricultural Policy was needed. But benefits should be targeted at no longer damaging the environment, particularly small farmers.

He said: "It's becoming increasingly obvious that with public money, farmers have to agree to public benefits - they have to agree to protect the biological diversity on their farms, protect the landscapes, to provide more access."