A stern farmgate-supply warning has been issued by Farmers For Action (FFA) amid rising input costs. The warning was intended for corporate and co-op food processors in Northern Ireland (NI). According to FFA’s, William Taylor co-op milk processors are dragging their feet again at a base price of around 36p/L, whilst Meadow Foods in England announced a price of 41.6p/L going forward.
Addressing concerns around large meat processors in NI, Taylor says they are offering a top price in the region of just over £4.18/kg, while paying over £4.45/kg in Scotland. He explains that “in reality, dairy farmers should be receiving 50p/L+ for milk, beef farmers and sheep farmers should be on £7/kg + and the same story continues for vegetables, cereals and the majority of other produce of NI.”
The FFA further continues that when recent comments from one of NI’s banks confirm farmers are not buying enough fertiliser, then the decades of insufficient farmgate prices have hit the buffers and many farmers are rightly no longer willing to risk their farms by going further into debt.
Taylor concludes that “processors have a choice to make – either go to their customers and tell them what their products are going to cost, so that they can pay farmers the proper price for their produce to allow them to prosper or go short of supply.”