Wesley Aston, Chief Executive , UFU was the speaker at the quarterly lunch of the NI Grain Trade Association He pointed out that the UFU had taken on two new members of staff in order to focus in Brexit.
He outlined the expected political process around Brexit and the need for NI’s voice to be heard clearly during the negotiations.
He also detailed the key issues which had to be addressed on trade, the NI/RoI border, direct support, labour and regulation and gave an update on the UFU’s intended action plan to progress these issues, particularly around direct support with a view to reaching a single, common position locally with the wider agri-food industry and environmental organisations.
“Cautious optimism” was how Dr Mike Johnston, NI Director, Dairy UK described the outlook for the dairy industry when he spoke at the NI Grain Trade Association lunch last week. He pointed out that market returns were increasing and he expected this to be reflected in producer prices in the fourth quarter of 2016 as the effects of product forward sold by dairy companies work out of the system.
Mike referred to some of the reasons for market improvement, including an easing of milk production globally, with reductions in EU, GB, NI and New Zealand.
Culling of dairy cows has been a factor in these reductions with cull cows up 3% for July in Northern Ireland; France up 10% and Netherlands 15%.
While all of this sounds promising, Mike sounded a note of caution and reminded his audience that there are 260,000 tonnes of milk powder in EU Intervention and July stocks of butter in the USA were the highest in 100 years. He emphasised that it is difficult to predict the future based on previous experience of dairy volatility cycles since this is the first recovery from a trough the industry has experienced without quotas.
Referring to the possible impact of Brexit on the NI dairy industry, Mike said that although there are more questions than answers at present, the industry’s stance is “business as usual”. However, in terms of servicing the needs of customers in home and export markets the focus continues to be to be on quality and safety: “grass will continue to grow, and cows will continue to produce milk, and we will continue to ensure that our customers have a supply of high quality dairy products from NI”.
Mike concluded by describing the steps being considered by an industry group representing the complete supply chain, to minimise the uncertainty that comes with volatility in the industry. He added “ All businesses within the dairy supply chain need to minimise uncertainty and risk in their decision making. The group has been considering all possibilities, such as partnerships within a more joined up supply chain. We are also looking at systems used in other countries to assist the industry during periods of extreme volatility.”
NIGTA September Meeting 2016
David O'Connor, President of the NI Grain Trade Association was delighted to hand over a cheque for £4541.00 to Rural Support, his chosen charity for 2016.
Speaking at the cheque presentation, David said that the mentoring and support requested by rural dwellers had increased immensely in the past year or so, due to the downturn in farm incomes, yet Rural Support, with their small team, had coped admirably with the extra work. David went on to stress that Rural Support is helping everyone in rural areas and is dealing with a wide range of requests including finance, relationships, forward planning etc.
He added “The range of mentoring and support has made such a difference to many rural dwellers and farming families, and yet it is being achieved with a very small team of people. They are deserving of our support and we wish them well for the future.”
David added that he would also like to thank NIGTA members and their guests for their generosity at the annual dinner.
As an industry we are in the midst of some very challenging times, milk prices are near all-time lows and currently standing at levels that are unsustainable for Northern Ireland farming. Our pig industry continues to struggle and we still have no idea when and if we will get access to the Chinese markets. Our Beef farmers are now losing in access of over Stg 1 million per week.
What has caused these price reductions? , World Milk production increased by 1.8% last year. Cheaper commodity prices following years of good crops, reduced demand caused by poorer economic conditions in China and Africa and Trade restrictions especially in Russia have all led to the current situation.
Our industry faces challenges, lack of profitability in certain sectors and economic uncertainty around the outcome of the Brexit poll. We also have significant strengths – not least the family farm structure – the husbandry skills – the stockmanship - the dedication and our work ethic.
We have a well educated workforce at farm level which should be the foundation of a highly successful food industry. We as an industry need to build on this foundation, we need communication, integration, a market focus and a common purpose throughout the food chain.
The Northern Ireland food industry has to step up its game and become more competitive, better at marketing and more innovative. Most importantly we have to build on our strengths, our climate, our green pastures, the strength of our people in farming, processing and the wider supply chain.
Our island status gives us a natural barrier that makes it much easier for us to control our agri inputs and also to prevent the spread of disease. This has allowed us to create a food fortress with one of the highest integrity food supply chains in the world. We have world class expertise in our local Universities, including the internationally recognised work on food safety at the Institute for Global Food Security at Queens, in AFBI and in CAFRE.
An even greater challenge facing our industry is the upcoming referendum on UK membership of the EU. The UK is a net contributor to the EU budget. This means it pays in more money than it directly receives from the EU. Northern Ireland however is a net beneficiary -receiving more in the form of CAP support payments, research and development (R&D) funding and regional development (structural) funds than it pays in.
We as NIGTA do not believe that a UK exit from Europe will benefit Northern Ireland Agriculture, as recently stated by some industry leaders within Europe. UK companies have open access to 500 million consumers and in the event of an exit no one has been able to guarantee our continued access to those consumers or markets.
The Northern Ireland feed industry imported almost 3million tonnes of raw materials through our ports last year. Of this over 1.5 million came from Mainland Europe. We in Northern Ireland are the only part of the UK with a land border with Europe and every day substantial volumes of animal feed move across this border, raw materials and finished feed.
NI Agriculture relies on the free flow of labour from inside and outside Europe to help keep our costs competitive whilst we trade in a global market. Will we keep this free flow of labour if we are outside the EU?
Over the past twelve months NIGTA has seen its membership increase so that we now represent over 95% of all Feed manufactured in Northern Ireland, we have continued to tirelessly lobby for our members in all areas of our industry. Our executive members hold seats on every major industry body including the GAFTA raw material committee , AIC Sustainability and Feed committee , Food Fortress, NIFDA ,the Agri Food Strategy Board. Our Chief executive Robin Irvine attended well over 150 meetings in the calendar year 2015 lobbying in Brussels , London , Stormont and Dublin bringing NIGTA and its members influence to all of the relevant forums.
FOOD FORTRESS has, under the watchful eye of Queens Institute of Global Food Security, continued to see its membership grow to cover the Island of Ireland. FOOD FORTRESS now boasts 78 feed manufacturers and all the major importers as members bringing an unparalleled level of assurance to our food industry. This remains a unique selling point for producers of goods in Northern Ireland and gives an advantage in a highly competitive Global Market Place.
In conclusion yes we are in difficult times, but I am convinced that through the entrepreneurship, dedication and tenacity of our members we will be capable of facing and overcoming these challenges. 2016 is the year of food and drink in Northern Ireland and will showcase the results of the fine business we are all involved in.
NIGTA Annual Dinner 2016
“Agribusiness and Farming organisations must join forces with the Food Industry to speak with one voice as the Brexit negotiations get under way” according to David Caffall, the chief executive of the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC).
Speaking at a meeting of the Northern Ireland Grain Trade Association in Belfast Mr Caffall said “Unless the whole industry works together we won’t even feature in the planning process. While agri-food is big business in Northern Ireland – it represents a very small part of the overall UK economy and is in danger of being overlooked in favour of other, more powerful sectors”.
AIC have been active in bringing together an alliance of all the trades which supply goods and services to farmers and hope to coalesce with other like-minded bodies to create a single powerful voice which can have influence – not just at the DEFRA table but with David Davis, Liam Fox and even the Chancellor. “Given the global nature of our supply chains it is vital that we fight hard to ensure that trade flows are not disrupted in the deals which are done around the Brexit table”.
Since its inception AIC has always been focussed on Brussels based regulation and this remains a priority while the UK continues in membership of the EU. This is still vitally important work and AIC staff will continue to lobby on all relevant legislation being developed. “We must also look forward however and despite limited information from Government we have been busy identifying the priorities in terms of legislation which needs to be implemented from day one when the “Great Repeal Bill” is activated. This is doubling the workload and will put us under considerable pressure in the months ahead but it is essential that our staff and members are available to the relevant government departments given the vast expertise we can bring to bear on the issues of trade and regulation” said Mr Caffall.
NIGTA December Meeting 2016
A Trade Awareness course, designed particularly for new entrants to the animal feed trade and organised by the NI Grain Trade Association outlined the different elements of the animal feed supply chain from Global sourcing of raw materials to feed manufacture and distribution.
The program was centred on the Belfast Harbour area where Joe O’ Neil, commercial manager of the Belfast Harbour outlined the vital role of imports with over two million tonnes of feed materials landed at the port every year.
This was followed by a tour of the harbour stores and a visit to the MV Bao Lucky – a massive ocean going vessel just arrived with her cargo of soya products from South America.
The manufacture of compound feeds came under the spotlight with a feed mill tour and presentations on quality assurance schemes including the world leading Food Fortress program developed in partnership with the Institute of Global Food Security at Queens University.
The importance of Research and development was discussed, highlighting the significant investments which had been made to improve feed efficiency and reduce costs of production.
The program concluded with a presentation detailing the role of the trade in reducing the environmental impact of intensive farming through management of greenhouse gas emissions and in reducing the levels of phosphate in our waterways.
NIGTA Trade Awareness Course June 2016
Noel Lavery, Permanent Secretary of the newly-formed Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), briefed guests at the NIGTA lunch on the structures, synergies and challenges of his new department.
Led by Minister Michelle McIlveen, DAERA brings together functions from the former DOE, DARD and DCAL. It has a budget of £265m, employs nearly 3,000 staff based in over 70 locations and covers a broad spectrum of areas from air quality to zoo licensing.
Guests were told that by moving these functions under one single policy leadership, the new Minister and her department has an opportunity to drive an integrated policy agenda for growing the agri-food sector and protecting and improving the environment.
“It is an honour to represent the NI Grain Trade Association as its President for the next year but I realise it will also be a challenging time” David O'Connor told the Association's annual general meeting after his election.
David said “The continuing difficulties faced by all of the farming sectors along with the upcoming referendum on UK membership of the EU are just two of the issues which are going to present NIGTA members with some very serious challenges. In an effort to support our farming customers our businesses have also come under pressure and we are ensuring that we are represented at all of the negotiating tables to try and find solutions for our major industry.”
Referring to developments within NIGTA David stated that Food Fortress, the quality assurance scheme for feed compounders and importers had expanded and the feed compounder sector now had 72 members with 13 of these in the South. The scheme now covers 4 million tonnes of feed.
Trade Awareness courses had been introduced which benefited new entrants to the industry and the Feed Advisers Register (FAR) is ensuring that all representatives of NIGTA members are fully up to date with research and developments in the industry in order to provide a comprehensive service to the farming sector.
David concluded by noting the increase in NIGTA membership and gave a special welcome to the smaller compounders who provide a valuable service to agriculture and are developing their businesses through Food Fortress and FAR.
David O'Connor has been working in the feed trade for 29 years. For the past 25 years he has worked with Cefetra, formerly McCorkell, Belfast. Cefetra operates in the UK and Ireland as part of the Baywa Group, the largest agricultural co-op in Europe, which supplies 34 million tonnes of raw material per year to the European feed market.
As Manager of Cefetra and President of NIGTA, David will have little time to pursue his golfing hobby or to support his three children as they attend various venues playing underage football.
The other appointments made at the AGM include Keith Agnew, United Feeds as Vice President; Patrick McLaughlin, Devenish Nutrition as Honorary Secretary; and Stephen Burrell, United Feeds as Honorary Treasurer. Paul Sloan, Tullyherron Farm Feeds and Niall O'Donnell, United Molasses were elected to serve on the Executive Committee.
Robin Irvine and Doris Leeman will continue to be employed as Chief Executive Officer and Secretary respectively.
NIGTA AGM 2016
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