Levies collected by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) will increase from April 2024, after ministers in Defra and devolved administrations agreed to the proposed changes.

The only NI farmers impacted are arable growers, given that the AHDB cereals and oilseeds levy is applicable across the UK.

Levies for cereals increase from 46p/t to 58p/t, while oilseeds is moving from 75p/t to 94p/t.

The AHDB beef and sheep levy applies in England only, with beef cattle at slaughter currently charged at £4.05/head.

From April 2024 this increases to £5.06/head, while the levy for lambs moves from 60 to 75p/head.

That compares to similar farmer levies collected by the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) in NI, which are at £1/head for beef and 20p/sheep at slaughter.

There are also levy increases applied by AHDB to processors, while in pork, the levy will increase from 85p to £1.02. In dairy, the levy change applies across Britain and increases from 0.06p/l to 0.08p/l.

“The new rates will allow us to enhance our key activity whether, for example, that involves growing export opportunities or exploring further marketing campaigns in beef, lamb, dairy and pork sectors as well as increasing our research offering to cereals and oilseeds producers,” commented AHDB chair, Nicholas Saphir.