Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott has expressed his concern at the recent figures from the ‘Statistical Review of Northern Ireland Agriculture 2008’ which revealed that income from agriculture fell by over 5% in 2008.

The Fermanagh and South Tyrone MLA commented that: “While the decrease in total income in 2008 is no surprise to most within the sector and merely clarifies what many have been saying for quite a long time it is obviously a worry within the agricultural community and indeed for the entire Northern Ireland economy. The main reasons for this fall has been attributed to a number of things, but it won’t be a surprise to many people that the price of fuel, feedstuff and fertiliser considerably ate into the income of Northern Ireland farmers"

"This is in comparison to the total income from farming in the UK actually rising an impressive 36% in real terms. However the rest of the UK do have a distinct advantage in that cereals experienced a 66% increase in their gross output across the Nation. However the cereals sector is relatively small in Northern Ireland; accounting to only 2.5% of our output, therefore we witnessed little of that growth here."

"It is evident from these latest set of figures that farming is still in a very sombre condition throughout Northern Ireland. It was disappointing to see the total number of Northern Ireland farms falling by nearly 200 last year. This is on top of a decrease in the number of beef cattle and sheep, indeed ewe numbers are now at their lowest level since 1985. But the situation could be worse; it is evident now in the figures from the most recent annual statistical review in Northern Ireland that farmers are adapting to the changing environment. 2008 witnessed a decrease in the number of full-time farmers but there was a notable increase in the number of people working part-time in the industry. It’s obvious that many farmers are adapting to the difficult economic situation in agriculture and going out and finding other sources of employment. But their continued commitment to agriculture in Northern Ireland is striking, it is clear that our farmers don’t give up easily.” 

Tom Elliott, who is the Vice Chair of the DARD committee at Stormont, concluded by calling upon the Minister of Agriculture to look at these figures and realise that our farming industry needs serious attention and investment. The UUP MLA commented “The Department of Agriculture need to ensure there are effective procedures in place to encourage young people into the industry as well as ensuring that our current farmers are using the most up-to-date methods and technologies. We need to make sure that we are holding our own in today’s global agricultural market and we should be promoting Northern Ireland farm products for what they are; safe, reliable and healthy.”