CALLS have almost doubled to the helpline of an Oxford farming charity as the industry is hit by tough weather and disease.

Some 846 calls were made to the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution (RABI) from January to September, up from 432 in the same period in 2011.

Spokesman Philippa Spackman said: “This is the worst crisis RABI has faced since foot-and-mouth in 2001.”

Since 1860, the charity has given advice, grants, household items and specialist equipment.

She said: “A wonderful summer and good weather during harvest has gone some way to making up for the horrors of last year, when fields were flooded and then frozen for months on end.

“But the harvest has been a mixed bag with some farmers producing record-breaking yields and others at the opposite end of the scale.

“Most are simply grateful to have crops to harvest at all, given that six months ago the future looked very bleak and some had to sow crops two or even three times over.

“For livestock farmers, the sad fact is that more are struggling with the effects of animal disease such as bovine TB.”

A third rise in fertlisier and animal feeds costs, Schmallenberg disease of sheep, goats and cattle, has added to problems. Warborough Farm in Letcombe Regis, near Wantage, lost more than 300 deformed lambs and 24 ewes to the virus.

Ms Spackman said 292 farmers shared more than £500,000 of charity money from January to September, up from 107 and £203,000 for the same period in 2012.

The charity – at Botley’s Shaw House for 34 years – has seen a major shift in demand from helping OAPs and disabled farmers to working farmers.

Among those who have been helped by the charity – which employs 16 people – is Joan Ackrill, 83, whose husband William died in 2011.

She said: “My husband was of farming stock, but I am a country girl only by adoption.

“I first came to Oxfordshire, a brash little Londoner, aged 17 in 1947, to be a land girl.

“We moved in 1960 to Tackley, where my husband acquired a position as a mechanic on the 900-acre estate.”

He retired in 1990 and needed a mobility scooter by 2004 because of heart problems.

She said: “The charity helped us with a quarterly grant, that helped us run our car, and helped with winter allowances to keep the house warm, telephone line rental and hampers for birthdays and Christmas.”

As well as long-term benificieries, farmers got help with costs like funerals, utility and council tax bills, household repairs and temporary labour for when farmers fall ill or have an accident.

In addition to donations from the farming community, the RABI recently got £169,000 from the Prince’s Countryside Fund and £150,000 from the Welsh Assembly.