A vibrant and sustainable arable sector must be retained at the very heart of agriculture in Northern Ireland.

This is the view of Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) seeds and cereals committee chairman, Mark McCollum.

“This is a message that must be communicated to both the public and livestock farmers," McCollum said.

“Northern Ireland’s consumers buy-in to the principles associated with total food provenance from farm to fork.

“The role that locally grown grains and other crops can play in this context is immense," he added.

McCollum attended this week’s ‘Agronomy and Business conference for Arable Growers.

The event was held at the at the Greenmount campus of the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (CAFRE) in Co. Antrim earlier this week.

“The conference provided a number of speakers with the opportunity to discuss a range of new technologies designed to allow for the more efficient use of crop inputs," McCollum said.

“So the issue of arable farmers making best use of crop inputs is extremely important, not just now, but into the future.”

The union representative flagged up the fact that a number of farmers in Northern Ireland bought fertiliser before Christmas.

However, recent weeks having seen commodity markets weakening to some extent.

“It all adds up to a number of growers using very expensive fertiliser over the coming months,” he said. “And, obviously, this will put real pressure on their margins.”

On the up side, McCollum is quick to point to the roll-over of the Protein Aid Scheme for 2023. He believes the measure will further encourage the growing of crops such as spring beans.

“Increasing diversity within the arable sector will help to maintain its important role at the very heart of local agriculture,” he stressed.

“New technologies are helping to expand the ways in which locally produced cereals and protein crops can be fed to livestock.

“Developing these opportunities will help stabilise and, hopefully, expand the production base of arable farming here in Northern Ireland," McCollum concluded.