Minister outlines details of £25m farming package - headage payments for cattle and lambs

Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots has outlined the sectors eligible for a £25million Covid-19 financial support package today in a Written Statement to the Assembly.

Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots has outlined the sectors eligible for a £25million Covid-19 financial support package today in a Written Statement to the Assembly.

In the statement, the Minister confirmed that businesses in the beef, dairy, sheep, potato and ornamental horticulture sectors are able to avail of the funding, to help them offset the losses incurred as a result of short term market disturbance.

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Beef finishers who sold cattle during the seven week fall in the market will be able to avail of two headage payments of £40 and £33 (only for those who owned the cattle 30 days prior to slaughter).

Producers of spring lambs will receive a flat payment of £6.88 per head for lambs sold during the period of reduced prices (for those who owned the lambs for 30 days prior to slaughter in Northern Ireland or Southern Ireland when sold through bonafide collection centres).

In the dairy sector the department have worked off a base rate of 26.7p for February and farmers will be compensated to the tune of 80% of losses. Milk processors will be asked for details of milk volumes supplied to them by farmers and the payment calculated. Farmers with contracted milk over 26.7p will not receive a payment from the £11m set aside for the sector for that portion of their milk.

The department will be using the Aphis system to identify those beef and sheep farmers they believe are entitled to claim headages and will contact them accordingly.

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It is anticipated that the money could hit accounts in late August.

Speaking about the announcement, the Minister said: “Covid-19 was a shock to the agri-food industry and caused a significant downturn in the trading ability of the sector. I made the case that the industry should be supported by the NI Executive during this difficult period and on 19 May, the NI Executive agreed a support package to help alleviate the emerging threat to Northern Ireland farm incomes.

“Since then, I have met with numerous industry representatives and stakeholders to examine the nature and extent of the financial losses that are being incurred.

“I have decided to target £21.4m of the £25m support package towards those businesses in the beef, dairy, sheep, potato and ornamental horticulture sectors that have been hardest hit financially and those in most immediate need as a direct result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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“Since other support measures are available to agricultural and horticultural businesses, rates of compensation for losses incurred have been set at 100% or 80% - depending on the nature of the business and other support already available.”

Breakdown of the £21.4m (indicative figures) is as follows:

Support for the Beef Sector - £7m (100% losses covered)

Support for the Dairy Sector - £11m (80% losses covered)

Support for the Sheep Sector - £232k (100% losses covered)

Support for the Potato Sector - £1.2 – 1.6m (80% losses covered)

Support for the Ornamental Horticulture Sector – £1.2m - £1.6m (80% losses covered)

The Minister continued: “The financial interventions that I am proposing to make will go a long way in helping these businesses survive the current crisis. However, I want to be prudent at this stage with the funding as we cannot rule out the possibility of further market disturbance as a result of this pandemic and the need for additional farmer support.

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“For that reason, I want to retain a budget of just over £7m based on the residual funding of £3.6m (from the £25m) and £3.6m that has been reprioritised internally within my Department. This would allow me to address additional issues and challenges Covid-19 may present in the weeks and months ahead. As far as I am aware, this is the most comprehensive support scheme for our primary producers available anywhere within the EU.

“It is vitally important that we recognise the hard work of our farmers and those working within the wider agri-food sector who have, through these extraordinary times, ensured we have food on our tables.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank my Executive colleagues for their support thus far in my endeavours to support our vitally important agri-food industry and support our local economy during these extremely challenging times.”

The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) says it is a positive outcome that the £25m coronavirus (COVID-19) support package provided by the NI Executive for farming businesses in Northern Ireland that suffered significant financial losses due to the pandemic, will be distributed among a range of affected agriculture sectors. The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) Minister Edwin Poots, confirmed today which sectors would benefit from the COVID-19 support and how much they would receive.

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UFU president Ivor Ferguson said: “We lobbied for numerous weeks presenting our views to Minister Poots and the NI Assembly’s Agriculture Committee, highlighting how the region’s agri-food industry was significantly impacted financially by COVID-19. It is good to see that Minister Poots listened to our concerns and allocated the funding to a range of different farming sectors that have been affected by the virus. The support will be of huge benefit to those farming families across NI in these farming sectors. It will help to stabilise the agriculture industry in its entirety, making sure we come out the other side of this pandemic together in a position that allows us to build towards a brighter future.

“Considering the tight time frame, Minister Poots did a fantastic job working on behalf of NI farmers, many of whom have been struggling since the pandemic began. Our members are grateful of the support given by the NI Executive during this difficult time. They recognised the immense efforts of our farmers who have been playing their part as key workers during this pandemic, overcoming numerous challenges to continue producing quality food for the nation so that consumers could purchase essential products when needed.

“NI is the only devolved region in the UK to get such a financial support package and we now hope that a relatively quick delivery process is established and the financial support gets distributed as quickly as possible so that farming families affected financially by the virus can benefit straight away. We believe Minister Poots made the right call by retaining some of the £25m along with the additional £3.6m that was reprioritised internally for future needs as we do not know what lies ahead. The remaining COVID-19 funding could be provided to farming sectors who experience market disruption down the line, and it is therefore essential to have this financial support available in the wings should we need it.”

The Dairy Council for Northern Ireland has welcomed the allocation of £11m to NI dairy farmers.

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Commenting on the Minister’s statement, Dr Mike Johnston, CEO of the Dairy Council said: “We welcome this much needed injection of funds for local dairy farmers, and thank the Minister, and his colleagues in the NI Executive for their support. We appreciate the engagement we have had with the Minister and his officials during this difficult time. The impact that COVID 19 had on the food service sector, globally, triggered a market crash, the speed and extent of which had never been experienced before. In a matter of days NI dairy farmers and dairy processors had to implement new ways of collecting and processing milk to ensure the safety of dairy farmers, those who work in processing plants and their families. This was no mean achievement, and it is a great credit to everyone in the NI dairy sector that all milk was collected from farms, processed and distributed to customers to meet their needs.

“At an early stage in the crisis the Dairy Council recognised the need to have a robust evaluation of the impact that COVID 19 was having on global dairy markets and the effect this was having on milk prices. We engaged EY to produce a Report that we submitted to Minister Poots on 3 June, and we are delighted that the allocation for NI dairy farmers announced by Minister Poots is in line with the findings of the Report.”

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