The end of British farming

British farming is in terminal decline: two years ago agriculture contributed 6.9 billion pounds to the British economy, around 1 per cent of GDP.

The figure of 2000 is 1.8 billion pounds. In the eye of the animal holocaust of the year 2001 Andrew O'Hagan travelled the length and breadth of the country, talking to farmers, small and large, farmers with no crops and no animals.

This is his report of the state of our fields. He takes the long view, tracing changes back to the Second World War, the international view of globalisation, supermarket shopping and the EU.

Most of all he takes a personal view - that of one of Britain's most admired, sensitive and subtle writers.