Securing farm support is critical, says UFU

UFU president William Irvine says concerns surrounding farm support funding need to be addressed.

“The funding decisions were equally unexpected in the Chancellor’s budget announcement. While initially disappointing, a closer look at the Treasury’s announcements shows room for progress. The NI farm support budget for 2025-2026 is being maintained, but without a ringfence,” he said.

This shift means NI’s farming sector now competes directly with other essential services such as health, education, and social care, for vital support.

The responsibility for allocating additional funds to agriculture rests with the NI executive.

The NI Assembly recently agreed a motion that agriculture needs a bigger budget and to be ring fenced. The UFU is calling on the NI executive to deliver this commitment.

“Our focus now turns to ensuring our farmers and growers receive the funding they deserve. It is more important than ever that we push for a stable, multi-year commitment that safeguards the agri sector.”

Mr Irvine emphasised the direct support to farming is effectively a subsidy on food prices which continues to be provided by the UK Government since we have left the EU.

“On average over the last 10 years, just under 80 percent of farm income comes from direct support - therefore it is essential farmers and growers get the long-term support they require to continue producing high-quality, nutritious food at affordable prices,” he said.

The UFU says there is also a need for additional capital,or a just transition fund as agreed by NI Assembly to help NI agriculture adapt to the NI Climate Change Bill.

“We’re all on this journey towards net zero and farmers are committed to reducing emissions while feeding a growing population, but it is vital that these are additional to the direct support budget provided to achieve this,” said Mr Irvine.

Coupled with the proposed changes to Inheritance Tax and Agricultural Property Relief will devastate countless family-owned farms.

“These reforms bring immense financial and mental stress to farm families and businesses. After years of already slim margins, increased production costs, a cost-of-living crisis and battling with extreme weather events, many farmers and growers are at breaking point, unable to absorb any more cost burden. We challenge the Secretary of State Hilary Benn’s analysis that this will only impact one quarter of farm businesses. We are calling on the UK government to urgently reconsider these changes to protect farm families across the UK,” said Mr Irvine.

The UFU president added, this budget signals a new era where policy and funding must work together to support our farmers unique role in food production, biodiversity, and sustaining rural communities.

“The road ahead will be challenging, but the UFU are fully committed to working tirelessly to secure a sustainable future for NI agriculture,” said the UFU president.

The UFU has requested an urgent meeting with the NI Secretary of State to discuss APR and will also take part in a mass lobby in London planned for 19 November 2024 with the UK farming unions to highlight the devastating impact of the recent Budget on family farms across the UK.

Meanwhile, Portadown-based solicitor, Brian walker, represents a significant number of farmers in the Co Armagh and Mid Ulster area.

Responding to the proposals contained within Budget UK 2024, he said: “The majority of farmers who contacted me yesterday are shattered by the present tax proposals, which in their opinion, prevent them passing on their farms to the next generation of their families. No attempt by government ministers calms their fears because they simply do not believe the statistics.

“I have a great deal of sympathy with their views when I consider that at least one suggestion is that the only farming asset is land.

“Of course, very large amounts of capital are invested in machinery and outbuildings etc which often run into several hundred thousand pounds. The value of all these must be added to the value of the farmland for the purposes of calculating any inheritance tax which might be due.”

Walker continued: “Northern Ireland produces something of the order of 15% of food required by the United Kingdom, it is the centre of the most intensive farming operation in the British Isles. The value of agricultural land varies between £15,000.00 per acre and £25,000.00 per acre in some counties.

“This average is very much greater than any other land in any other part of the British Isles. It is idle to speculate as to the reason for this very large value because it is just a fact of life.

“I once asked a bank manager why Banks were so willing to lend money to farmers and he replied that his farming customers would eat grass before they would allow their bank loans to be in default.

“This was an expression of the unique relationship with the farmers in this province and their land. There are historical reasons for this going back to the days of the Ulster Tenant Right is a fact that historically our ancestors dug many thousands of yards of stone ditches exactly 22 yards apart throughout the province."

According to Brian Walker, If the farming community has a loss of confidence in the future, there will be huge implications for food security.

He explained: “The United Kingdom imports most of its food requirements from abroad but any interruption of shipping lanes could have a disastrous effect. An example of this is that some costs of shipping have increased by over 200% in the last twelve months consequent to militant activity in the Red Sea.

“Politicians have in recent years expressed concerns about food security, but they have done little or nothing to implement a strategy for food security.

“The economic impact of significant increases in food prices is enormous particularly when you consider the average percentage of money spent on food out of the family weekly budget has dramatically decreased over the last 40 years. If that percentage is to return to previous levels, then the amount of money available for other purposes will dramatically decline and this will have a huge impact on the UK economy.”