Tony Blair's new rural affairs co-ordinator, Lord Haskins, yesterday predicted that thousands of farmers will "inevitably" go out of business over the next few years - saying he expects the number of farms to halve by 2020.

In an interview with today's Guardian, Lord Haskins pledged to do what he could for small farmers, and as Chairman of Northern Foods - one of Britain's largest food processing companies - said it was in his interest to promote larger, more efficient units.

He also accused farmers of waiting to be rescued instead of helping themselves. "Everyone's jumping on the bandwagon that the government will bail out every farmer for every mishap, and you have to get away from that," he said.

Ben Gill, the president of the National Farmers Union, attacked Lord Haskins for causing offence to farmers.