The Northern Ireland Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) is offering GBP4 million (US$5.55 million) in support for poultry and pig producers who saw their income drop in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Support for the poultry sector
Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots said in a press release that he met with representatives of poultry farmers producing parent stock and hatching eggs for Northern Ireland-based Moy Park, the second largest poultry company in the U.K., and “recognized the financial impact that falling demand for hatching eggs, particularly in international markets and interdependencies within the supply chain, had on the local industry.”
“This support will address the financial impact of depleting laying flocks earlier than normal, and the cash flow consequences of longer intercrop periods for both rearing and laying farms,” Poots said.
Eligible poultry producers must have raised broiler breeder pullets or broiler hatching eggs and been negatively impacted by market disruption caused by COVID-19 between March 23, 2020 and January 31, 2021.
Pig sector support
Poots noted that in 2020, he I met with pig farmers who incurred financial loss when the processing plant they supplied was temporarily closed due to an outbreak of COVID-19 within the workforce.
“This financial support will address the effects of the temporary loss of the lucrative Chinese export market, additional penalties on overweight and overfat pigs, and the price impact to alternative pig marketing arrangements,” said Poots.
Eligible pig producers must have supplied pigs to Cranswick between September 4 and November 7, 2020.
Eligible producers will be notified
DAERA stated that eligible farm businesses in the pig and poultry sectors will receive a letter, inviting them to apply for the support package, with instructions on how to access the application for and receive help to complete it. The application will need to be completed between March 15 and March 24.
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