A prestigious UK farming unions summit took place at the Lough Erne Resort in Fermanagh on Friday, March 22, hosted by the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU), of which the President is David Brown from Florencecourt.
The leaders of the UFU were joined by those from NFU, NFU Scotland and NFU Cymru, and later joined by Francie Gorman, President of the Irish Farmers' Association.
Later on Friday evening, the UFU held their annual Northern Ireland dinner at the same hotel.
At their meeting, they stressed the need for governments to back farming and food production.
UFU President David Brown said: “To safeguard our nation’s food security, we need to build profitability and resilience into our farm businesses.
“This requires a closer partnership between farmers and politicians, so we can continue to produce the high-quality food that consumers expect, while delivering for the environment and economy.
“Proposals around a new farming scheme are presently being consulted on within Wales, which is causing huge concern and unrest amongst Welsh famers.
“We stand in support of our Welsh colleagues as they look to develop alternative approaches.
“Across the UK, there needs to be a balanced approach at a policy level, not just to look at the environmental side of agriculture, but at the economic and social consequences of agricultural production.
“Farmers cannot be sacrificed for other societal objectives.
“They are essential to both a healthy world and a healthy population.
“Processors, retailers and the food service sector also need to get behind domestic food production. We need them to help us to achieve fairness in the supply chain and not to undermine our market.
“Other key discussion points included labour, trade standards, TB, new agricultural support policies, land tenure and environmental targets. All are critical issues, going forward, for both the UK and Ireland.”
Also attending the summit were UFU Deputy Presidents William Irvine and John McLenaghan; UFU Chief Executive Wesley Aston; and Policy Manager, James McCluggage; NFU President Tom Bradshaw, and NFU Director of Policy, Andrew Clark; NFU Scotland President Martin Kennedy, and Scotland Chief Executive, John Davidson; NFU Cymru Deputy President Abi Reader, and Director John Mercer; IFA President Francie Gorman, and IFA Director General, Damian McDonald; and BAB Director, Robin Manning.
At the UFU dinner on Friday evening attended by representatives of the agricultural industry and supply chain and other guests, including Agriculture Minister, Andrew Muir, and the Agriculture and Environment and Rural Affairs Committee Chair, Tom Elliott, David Brown spoke of the difficult challenges facing farmers, including the poor weather conditions in the British Isles since last summer.
He said with a continually growing world population, farmers will be expected to feed everyone, yet in the UK, self-sufficiency is probably less than the 60 per cent quoted by the government.
Locally within Northern Ireland, he said there were 5,000 responses to the DAERA's consultation on valuations of TB reactors, and he said TB was one of the challenges to efficiency on many farms.
With regard to meeting the target of Net Zero, Mr. Brown said Northern Ireland was taking part in a leading soils nutrient scheme and had established a leading ruminant genetics programme.
Responding to the President was Andrew Muir, Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, who said a partnership approach was needed to tackle the challenges ahead.
Mr. Muir added that said farmers would be key to the future of food security. He also said science was an important driver of productivity.
On the TB issue, Mr. Muir said he has asked the new Chief Veterinary Officer, Brian Dooher, for a fresh discussion on the TB issues.
The Cuthbert Trophy and Mary Wilson Trophy were both won by the North-West Armagh UFU group for membership retention, growth and performance.
The Belfast Telegraph Cup was awarded to Dr. Sam Strain, Chief Executive Officer of Animal Health and Welfare NI, in recognition of his being instrumental in the development and advancement of successful animal disease control programmes.
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