Rumours of a cull are not true apparently - despite the farmers' genuine concerns over 'no-deal';
The Ulster Farmers Union has branded as “scaremongering” predictions that 45,000 Northern Ireland diary cattle could be culled after a no-deal Brexit.
"Nobody in the UFU would hold that view he said, questioning the credentials of the unnamed sources BBC Newsnight based their report on."
"In a no deal Brexit scenario where it might become difficult to supply NI milk to the south, he said, an obvious alternative would be to sell the milk into England instead, he said."
In a formal statement, the UFU said it is not anticipating a cull of dairy cattle in Northern Ireland following a no-deal Brexit.
"Mr Ferguson said: “A no-deal Brexit will be catastrophic for NI farming. Steep export tariffs, a zero per cent tariff on agriculture goods coming from ROI, increased checks and regulations will all cause huge disruption and a logistical nightmare for family-run farm businesses.We are working hard to find ways to mitigate the potential damage of a no-deal. Reciprocal tariffs and deficiency payments to farms businesses, to help address farm gate price collapse, are starting points and at the moment, the most reasonable options."
“At this point in time, we are not even talking about a large cull of animals and we don’t anticipate that we will get to this point. In the event of a no-deal, the dairy industry will find ways to cope if there is a surplus of milk, although it’s not likely to be straightforward and we would expect disruption.Possibly there is capacity in our local processing sector to absorb any extra milk or we may be able to send it to GB.There will be other options and it is irresponsible to jump straight to culling cows as a solution.”^
TUV leader Jim Allister responded that the BBC was “plumbing new depths in anti-Brexit propaganda”.
“When even the Brexit hostile leadership of the UFU repudiates BBC’s latest Brexit scare story you know how preposterous it is,” he said.
"He added: “What those who peddle this nonsense never want to discuss is the opportunity for N.I. agriculture which arises when the Republic prices itself out of the GB market once it is required to pay the matching U.K. tariffs, arising from the EU threat to impose such on British produce."
“Currently the Republic relies on sales to the GB market for the survival of its agri-food industry. In a scenario of mutual tariffs the Republic’s sales to GB will collapse, leaving a huge marketing opportunity for N.I. produce. Alternative outlets within our own U.K. will open up for N.I. as we step forward to fill the void left by ROI being priced out of the market.”
In a statement Defra said: “A widespread cull of livestock is absolutely not something that the government anticipates nor is planning for in the event of no-deal.
“We will always back Britain and Northern Ireland’s great farmers and make sure that Brexit works for them."
www.newsletter.co.uk/news/latest-news/ufu-brexit-cull-of-45-000-ni-cattle-is-scaremongering-1-9026396