Despite increasing volume sales by 6.7% and revenue by 1.4% or £20.6m to £1.44bn for the year ending 2 January 2016, profits before taxation at NI’s largest agri-food company, Moy Park, were down by 71% to £9.4m.

The reduction in profit was mainly due to an increase in exceptional costs, which went from £0.2m in 2014 to £12.5m last year. The costs were the result of the closure of the company’s site at Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, as well as write-off costs from a potential initial public offering (IPO) of the business last year.

However, net debt at £154m has reduced by 5.5% with leverage (net debt/EBITDA) improving from 1.51 times at the end of 2014 to 1.38 times in 2015.

Commenting on the results, Janet McCollum, chief executive of Moy Park, said that performance remained strong against a backdrop of a highly competitive market.

ANC payments

Payments to farmers under the 2016 Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) scheme began this week with Minister for Agriculture Michelle O’Neill stating that 95% of eligible ANC payments will be issued by the end of the month. In total, 9,744 farmers have applied for the scheme which has an annual budget of £20m. Payments are made at a rate of £56.47/ha for the first 200ha of Severely Disadvantaged Area (SDA) land and £42.35/ha thereafter.

Agri-environment scheme delay

A number of farmers who had agri-environment schemes that ended in 2015 have expressed frustration that nothing has yet emerged from DARD on a new scheme under the current RDP. The latest indications are that DARD plans to open a new scheme later this year, with agreements starting from 1 January 2017. “If they had delayed Single Farm Payments by a year, there would have been some outcry,” one Co Down farmer said.

Milk scheme

While welcoming some aspects of the European Commission plan, which emerged last week to help tackle the crisis in agricultural markets, UFU president Ian Marshall has described a proposed voluntary milk supply reduction as “more smoke and mirrors”.

“It is voluntary – and that means reductions by some will be offset by others seeing this as an opportunity to increase production. More fundamentally there is no funding for compensation, unless it comes from member states, and that is a remote prospect in the UK,” said Marshall.

His comments are unlikely to go down that well with the Charlie Weir-led Fair Price Farming NI. Weir has pushed for some form of incentivised scheme to reduce milk production across Europe.