The steering committee of Farmers For Action (FFA) has said that rising fuel, fertiliser, and other costs are now “crippling” most farming sectors in Northern Ireland.

The organisation also said that “abysmal" farm gate prices are “breaking the camel’s back”.

The FFA said the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is "making things worse again by continuingly increasing regulation now to the point of blackmail where farmers have to complete course after course to qualify for their annual diminishing support money”.

FFA added that the hours required by these courses versus farmers' support money will soon be “unviable”.

According to FFA, one mature farmer said that after completing "an online 'blackmail' soil analysis course...he felt “so exasperated after the experience and he could see how a farmer perhaps equally under financial strain could feel the need to speak to (farmer support charity) Rural Support or similar”.

Sean McAuley, steering committee member at the FFA, said: “It is increasingly noticeable that it is elderly farmers or late middle age farmers who are completing the courses with family members carrying out the online parts for them.

"Young farmers who have off-farm work are not prepared to lose hours of proper pay to carry out petty unpaid courses, set out by DAERA. 

“Time for Stormont to wake up and smell the coffee, your farming industry is declining fast and it’s your fault for being asleep at the wheel.”

Pressure

McAuley added: “Such is the pressure on Northern Ireland’s farmers today, with the average age now 59-60 years-old and young people being driven away from the land financially and with lack of planning movement, that it is no wonder that Rural Support, the Samaritans and other charities are so busy with rural request for help.”

The FFA has proposed a Farm Welfare Bill, which envisages farmers being paid a price that takes full account of all input costs, plus an agreed margin to deliver ongoing sustainability at farm levels.

The organisation said it has "continually argued to a so-far deaf-Stormont that the NI Farm Welfare Bill holds the key to a successful balanced nature-friendly farming industry in Northern Ireland”.