Balmoral Show: UFU chief's plea for big boost to farm support cash

“The current budget sits at £329m,” he explained.

“It has been at this level since 2007. Inflation has already reduced the value of this funding package in real terms. So, looking forward, the annual support levels for farming must be pushed well north of £400m.”

He added: “We have already met with the Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir, on this matter.

“He agrees with the principle that we have highlighted and has committed to bringing the matter up at Westminster.”

Mr Irvine was attending Balmoral Show for the first time in his capacity as UFU president. He had two additional priority messages to communicate.

These are: the necessity to push forward with a realistic bovine tuberculosis (bTB) eradication policy and the requirement for the Environment Agency, in tandem with the Office of Environmental Protection, to review the regulations relating to ammonia emissions from livestock farms.

On the issue of bTB, Mr Irvine is deeply concerned that policy decisions on this matter have been transferred to the office of the secretary of state for Northern Ireland and, possibly, Westminster.

“This state of affairs has only come to light over recent days,” he said.

“The UFU wants to see control of bTB remain within the remit of Andrew Muir. This is the only sensible way forward.”

Regarding the outcome of the recent public consultation on bTB compensation values and a formal proposal from the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to cut funding budgets by 25%, the UFU representative made it clear that farmers will not countenance such a change.

This perspective is echoed by all of Northern Ireland’s farm lobby groups.

Where ammonia emission levels within agriculture are concerned, the UFU president is asking for common sense to be brought to bear on the matter.

He explained: “New technologies will be developed to tackle this issue. But they are prohibitively expensive to procure in the first place and then to operate thereafter.

“It’s imperative that the capital grant schemes made available to farmers take full account of this reality.”

He concluded: “Investment projects on many farms have now ground to a halt. This is a direct result of the severe interpretation of the ammonia-related criteria being applied by planning officials.

“One obvious way forward is to allow farmers to push ahead with the repair or the replacement of buildings.

“Many of these structures have been in place for 50 years and more.

“Replacing them with new facilities that are inherently more ammonia efficient makes sense from all perspectives.”

Meanwhile, the significance of the dairy sector to Northern Ireland’s economy was being emphasised on the Dale Farm stand.

The co-op is planning to expand its milk pool by up to 1% per annum over the next 10 years, according to Dale Farm group chief executive, Nick Whelan.

If achieved, this will see the company processing an extra 10m litres of milk per annum.

“This issue is not related to cow numbers,” Mr Whelan said.

“Production increases of this magnitude can be secured on the back of improvements in individual cow yields and enhanced levels of farm efficiency.”

The co-op is also confirming an almost 100% farmer participation in a detailed sustainability survey of their farming businesses.

The information secured has allowed the management at Dale Farm to determine the carbon footprint of all the milk coming into its processing centres at the present time.

Mr Whelan added: “We now have a fully quantified carbon base line. This will underpin the development of farm management systems, which ensure that Dale Farm meets its future climate change targets.

“The participation shown by Dale Farm producers in committing to the recent survey cannot be underestimated.

“Our intention now is to move forward with a new, on-farm development programme for producers later in the autumn.”