MINISTER of Agriculture Andrew Muir has been urged to "take charge of his brief" and deliver for farming families when it comes to succession planning.
This is the call from the Farmers For Action’s Steering Committee, who urged Minister Muir to ensure farmers are properly paid for their produce in order to secure a future for agriculture.
This is on the back of an announcement regarding a new succession planning pilot scheme, ‘Farming for the Generations’, which will support succession planning, developing the successor, and supporting the lead generation within the farm family.
Of the scheme, William Taylor, Northern Ireland Co-Ordinator, Farmers For Action, said: “This is the most recent scheme from the food corporate-influenced top civil servants in the Department for Agriculture, implementing a desperate attempt to have ageing family farmers across Northern Ireland - who are not properly paid for their produce - replaced by young farmers who, again, would not be properly paid for their produce either.
"This is where the Minister needs to take charge of his brief, and [offer] first and foremost support - and see through the Northern Ireland Farm Welfare Bill (currently with the Agriculture Committee in Stormont, which would return family farmers in Northern Ireland a minimum of the true cost of production [that is] inflation linked, plus a margin for their produce.
"This would then make succession planning viable and automatic without any government intervention.
"The world and its dog knows that it is virtually cruelty to bring a young family into farming without adequate income, and then to plunge them into debt.
"This cannot be allowed to continue for the sake of boosting corporate food retailer, corporate food wholesaler, and corporate food processors' profits.”
Mr. Taylor added: "Farmers' pockets are full of buzz words, but not money, and this cannot and will not continue.
"Now is Minister Muir’s chance to make a difference; very little more time in his position will define if this will be the case!
"Farmers For Action have written to Minister Muir to point out the error of his Department’s current position on Succession Planning," added Mr. Taylor.
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