Young farmers delegation meets Agriculture Minister

Assembly Member for Mid-Ulster, Billy Armstrong, and a delegation of young farmers from his rural constituency recently met the Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development Bríd Rodgers.

Following the meeting the Mr Armstrong, a member of the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development, said: “This meeting gave the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development the opportunity to meet this delegation of young farmers from Mid-Ulster from varying sectors within the agriculture industry who subsequently outlined their current views and concerns."

The delegation impressed on the Minister the need for encouragement to convince individuals in the sector to remain in agriculture and to be treated in the same way as any other industry.

Mr Armstrong said that in Northern Ireland - where the average age of a farmer is 59 - there was a great need for regeneration to encourage the younger generation to be part of this valuable industry.

He added: “We stressed to Mrs Rodgers and her staff that this is not new businesses we want to start-up but existing businesses that need to be maintained. Young people don’t want to come into a business that is not profitable, and farming has not been an attractive industry for a number of years. Farmers are not being compensated for the great effort that they put into agriculture. If they put the same effort into any other industry they would be paid at least five times as much.

“The Farm Quality Assurance Scheme received some straight talking and the Minister was asked to ensure that all producers from across Northern Ireland who are registered as quality assured actually do benefit from the additional work and financial liability imposed upon them to comply with obligations under this scheme.

“There is an underlying problem there in this Farm Quality Assurance Scheme and the Minister was well briefed by the delegation on this problem."

The delegation also informed the Minister that the existing method used to grade pigs was not uniform, was outdated and would need to be replaced. Also raised was the inefficient way in which the Beef Special Premium was administered as farmer had to wait until a year later to receive the premium.

Mr Armstrong added: "We left the Minister with the message -The Northern Ireland agriculture industry deserves much better than it is currently receiving.”

(SP)