UFU host meeting with UK farming unions

UFU president Victor Chestnutt said: “We were pleased to be able to host our annual meeting with representatives from the UK farming unions, IFA and BAB, for the first time since 2019 due to the pandemic. This meeting has always been a key event for us, providing the opportunity to get together with our counterparts and have constructive discussions about the key issues facing our agri-food industry and the challenges our members are enduring across the UK and on the island of Ireland.

“The leading item on the agenda was the impact of Russia’s ongoing invasion in Ukraine, threatening food supplies globally and significantly exacerbating already soaring input costs. We discussed the actions taken by the devolved administrations, each of our farming unions and European Union (EU) activity.

“We had in depth discussions about food security and climate change – two critical issues going forward for the UK and Ireland as a whole, and also touched on Brexit related issues, providing an update on the ongoing UK/EU discussions on the NI Protocol.

“Following on from DAERA’s recent announcement about Future Agriculture Policy for NI, each of the devolved regions reported on the current situation of new ag policy frameworks. The Unions also outlined their political lobbying priorities for 2022.”