NI farmers face further increases to charges at slaughter, with a number of processors set to apply new rates from 1 June 2026.

It is understood that the increases could be as high as £5 to £7/head for beef cattle, with processors maintaining they are being hit with a number of increased costs that will have to be passed on to suppliers.

Those higher costs include for meat inspection work undertaken by DAERA veterinary staff on behalf of the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

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The FSA has yet to confirm the extent of those increases, but it is understood that the standard hourly rate for an official DAERA vet will increase from £60.29 to over £63 and from £37.18 to over £40 for a meat inspector.

These higher costs are likely to be back-dated to 1 April 2026. Abattoirs cannot operate without DAERA being present to carry out controls.

There are also fears that a potential change to an FSA discount scheme, which has operated since 2009, could lead to higher costs in NI.

The FSA has proposed that the discount should in future, be targeted towards very small abattoirs (none of which operate in NI). A consultation on the issue runs until 12 June 2026.

TB

Sources in the trade also maintain that cattle being binned due to bovine TB continues to be a significant issue, so insurance charges will increase in some cases.

AgriSearch

Increased charges from 1 June 2026 will include new levy rates applied by farm research body, AgriSearch.

Currently the beef levy stands at 30p, while the rate for sheep is 5p/head.

On enquiry, the chair of AgriSearch, Norman McMordie confirmed that the beef levy will increase by 60p and the sheep levy by 15p/head. He added that the rates have been “endorsed” by the Ulster Farmers’ Union beef and sheep, hill farming and executive committees.

That increase to the AgriSearch levy has been under review over the last few months. Commenting in the latest AgriSearch annual report, previous chair Prof Gerry Boyle, pointed out that levy income has remained unchanged since 1997, outside of a small increase of 10p in the beef levy in 2015.

Milk levy

It is also understood that AgriSearch has proposed doubling the the levy paid by dairy farmers, which currently stands at 0.02p/l.

However, this levy is not deducted from milk cheques by all dairy processors, so there is a reluctance across some larger processors to implement the increase unless it applies to everyone.