Members of the Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development have met with Westminster MP’s and the Groceries Code Adjudicator to raise issues of concern to local farmers.
Committee Chairperson, William Irwin MLA, along with Jo-Anne Dobson MLA, Edwin Poots MLA and Oliver McMullan MLA met with representatives from Westminster’s Committee for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA), including local MPs, Margaret Ritchie and David Simpson. Discussions focused on the ongoing crisis of farmgate prices including dairy prices, the volatility in farming, and EFRA’s current Inquiry into farmgate prices.
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Assembly Committee expresses concern for industry to EFRA and two Northern Ireland MP’s, Margaret Ritchie and David Simpson, EFRA members.[/caption]
Speaking after the meeting, Chairperson William Irwin said: “Our meeting today proved very productive and gave us the opportunity to highlight to MP’s the challenges and concerns facing our local agriculture industry. There is a huge differentiation between what our farmers receive for their product and what the supermarkets charge consumers. More needs to be done to ensure fairness within the food supply chain, to close this gap, and reduce the exploitation of farmers.”
“The visit also provided an opportunity for us to meet with Christine Tacon, the Groceries Code Adjudicator, whose role oversees the relationship between supermarkets and their suppliers. We discussed the importance of extending Christine’s remit to include the entire food supply chain, the dairy crisis, payment terms and labelling issues. We highlighted the recent example of a local farmer who received 8p for his turnip which the supermarket subsequently sold for 80p.”
“We will continue to raise our concerns at the highest level and welcome EFRA’s Inquiry into farmgate prices and hope its recommendations will alleviate the industry crisis and help relieve the growing pressure on farmers.”
At its next meeting, the Committee will hear from the last of the supermarkets chains operating in Northern Ireland – LIDI on 24 November 2015.
Ritchie calls on Chancellor to protect agriculture export markets
South Down MP (SDLP) and member of the Westminster EFRA committee Margaret Ritchie called on British Chancellor George Osborne to commit to protecting agriculture export markets which are critical to the viability of the local industry ahead of the Autumn Statement.
She said: “Export markets are absolutely critical for the viability of local farming and agri-food businesses. Over the last period, we’ve seen cuts to the DEFRA trade section and voluntary redundancies which have damaged our ability to maximise market exposure for Northern Ireland producers.
“This is a reserved matter and it’s therefore vital that we see better partnership working between the Agriculture Minister in the Executive and the DEFRA Minister at Westminster. But more critically, we need the Chancellor to protect the DEFRA trade section from the impact of further cuts to come in the Autumn statement.
“Our local farmers and fishermen need a strong voice at Westminster, championing their cause. I will continue to do that in the time ahead,” added Ms Ritchie.
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