:00:07. > :00:12.This land provides for �1 billion farming industry that many hope
:00:12. > :00:17.will revitalise our economy. But behind that aspiration, the outlook
:00:17. > :00:22.is grim. In my 46 years, I have never seen
:00:22. > :00:25.it as bad. If we are going to stay the way we
:00:25. > :00:29.are, I don't see a bright future for farming.
:00:29. > :00:32.Farmers are hurting. Could our demand for cheap food be
:00:32. > :00:35.responsible? The cost of food will have to go up.
:00:35. > :00:42.Hopefully farmers will get some of that. Otherwise they won't be there.
:00:42. > :00:46.They will just disappear. It was one of the wettest summers
:00:46. > :00:50.on record, and the economic forecast for farmers is bleaker
:00:50. > :01:00.than at any time in decades. With the rural economy at breaking point,
:01:00. > :01:26.
:01:26. > :01:30.just what is the future of farming Summer rains this year and
:01:30. > :01:40.extraordinary flooding. Four months on, the consequences are still
:01:40. > :01:41.
:01:41. > :01:51.being felt on the land. It is early November in County
:01:51. > :01:55.Armagh. The sowing season has come and gone. Land like this remains
:01:55. > :02:00.unplanted. This field would normally be bursting with vegetable
:02:00. > :02:05.ready tobg harvested but because of the atrocious summer it wasn't
:02:05. > :02:11.planted in June. The cost of this to farmers is huge and right across
:02:12. > :02:16.the countryside fields like this are lying baron.
:02:16. > :02:20.Thomas Gilpin has never known things to be as bad as this. He
:02:20. > :02:24.provides large quantities of farm produce for supermarkets. But even
:02:24. > :02:32.where his farmers have been able to plant fields this year, they have
:02:32. > :02:39.had scant return. You see here Brian, there is not
:02:39. > :02:44.even tops on these swedes. That's never going to be a swede.
:02:44. > :02:50.They are badly under sized? They have plenty of nutrients and plenty
:02:50. > :02:54.of anything and because of the lack of sunshine and heat they haven't
:02:54. > :03:01.grown. I would give awe fiver if you could find find one...
:03:01. > :03:04.that's a descent size? A descend size.
:03:04. > :03:10.-- -- a descent size. The supermarkets wouldn't be
:03:10. > :03:15.interested in those? People want one you can peel. Those beds are
:03:15. > :03:19.sitting up out of the wet and they just haven't grew. In my 46 years,
:03:19. > :03:23.I have never seen it as bad and it is just, there is nothing we can do
:03:23. > :03:27.about it. Everybody involved in the sector at the moment from the
:03:27. > :03:32.grower, right through to the washer and packer like ourselves right
:03:32. > :03:35.through to the man making the preparation of it all, nobody is
:03:35. > :03:41.making any money. In fact, everybody is losing a bit of money
:03:41. > :03:51.at the moment and there is going to have to be something done so people
:03:51. > :03:51.
:03:51. > :03:57.can be sustainable for the next year's crop. There is a crisis.
:03:57. > :04:04.Thomas says the the outlook is grim and expects many in his sector to
:04:04. > :04:14.go out of business this winterment even even potatoes are imported. It
:04:14. > :04:15.
:04:15. > :04:22.is not just bad bad weather that brought bad news to an industry
:04:23. > :04:29.that's at breaking point. These pigs are all that's left of a
:04:29. > :04:35.700 strong herald kept on a once thriving farm outside Cookstown.
:04:35. > :04:39.Only these sows remain. They are on a final journey from farm to meat
:04:39. > :04:45.processor and for the farmer, it is the end too of a 20-year investment
:04:45. > :04:50.in pork production. When you walked up the yard, you heard pigs
:04:50. > :04:54.squealing or something, but there will be no more of that for a
:04:54. > :04:58.highly anyway. When you look into a house and it is empty, it is
:04:58. > :05:06.demoralising. James can no longer afford to feed
:05:06. > :05:11.them and feels forced to send these breeding animals to the abattoir.
:05:11. > :05:17.He thinks they will ultimately end up on dinner tables in Germany. It
:05:17. > :05:22.is a rapid reversal of for ture that led a prize winning pig farmer
:05:22. > :05:26.to wind up operations and slaughter his herd.
:05:26. > :05:29.Six months ago, I hadn't anticipated this, but it is the way
:05:29. > :05:33.the feed prices went up. The price of feed and bread and all those
:05:33. > :05:42.things went up. . How much do you get per pig?
:05:42. > :05:46.need about �135 per pig and we are only getting �120.
:05:46. > :05:51.Every animal going out through the door is losing money and that's why
:05:51. > :05:55.I decided to stop rather than keep losing money. If it was profitable,
:05:55. > :05:57.at least I'm starting off with a clean sheet, other people have to
:05:57. > :06:05.make back what they have lost before they start again.
:06:05. > :06:13.High feed costs and poor prices hit pig farming hard, especially since
:06:13. > :06:18.the sector is not subsidised. The houses for over 700 animals are
:06:18. > :06:28.now empty. James Millar designed and welded each pen himself. Now,
:06:28. > :06:33.
:06:33. > :06:38.they are redundant. His entire Even those farmers who do receive
:06:38. > :06:43.subsidies are struggling. This is Ray Elkin, a beef farmer who says
:06:43. > :06:52.business is more uncertain than ever. Today is the day he has been
:06:52. > :06:57.dreading. His cattle are being tested for TB.
:06:57. > :07:02.If this vet finds even one of the cattle tests positive, this farm
:07:02. > :07:07.will be closed for months. It will mean that the farmer can't sell any
:07:07. > :07:12.of them. He will incur all the expense of feeding them for the
:07:12. > :07:17.foreseeable future too. It is a nervous time for you?
:07:17. > :07:21.Absolutely. It is not only a nervous time, it is a dangerous
:07:21. > :07:24.time because we are letting out animals into a yard who are quite
:07:24. > :07:29.lively and it is a risk to them, but not only to them, but also to
:07:29. > :07:32.the human being. Every time you let an animal into a
:07:32. > :07:36.yard, there is another possibility of someone getting hurt.
:07:36. > :07:42.The family used to breed pigs, but found it difficult to make a profit.
:07:42. > :07:48.Beef was good business, but it is now a question of working just to
:07:48. > :07:54.cover costs. It has got worse. It has changed.
:07:54. > :07:59.It used to be the pigs and then that went by the way side and it is
:07:59. > :08:03.constant hard work for very little reward.
:08:03. > :08:07.The possibility of TB is not the biggest worry by any means.
:08:07. > :08:12.Prolonged wet weather has forced him to bring his cattle in from the
:08:12. > :08:18.fields earlier than usual. They are already fielding on expensive
:08:18. > :08:28.winter fodder. Times are difficult, yeah. Times
:08:28. > :08:38.
:08:38. > :08:44.are difficult. We hope that next Across the industry costs have gone
:08:44. > :08:54.in one direction - upward. And profit has either gone down or
:08:54. > :08:56.
:08:57. > :09:02.been wiped out entirely. For farmers who want to sell their
:09:02. > :09:06.stock, it is at places like this where the action happens. I have
:09:06. > :09:11.come to Ballymena, the biggest auction for live stock in Northern
:09:11. > :09:16.Ireland. I have been told that cattle prices
:09:16. > :09:22.here don't compare to even 12 months ago. For farmers, returns
:09:22. > :09:27.are too low and costs are too high. I think some of the figures we have
:09:27. > :09:33.seen would suggest that annually in Northern Ireland we would use about
:09:33. > :09:42.two million tonnes of feed and when you consider the increase in feed
:09:42. > :09:46.costs, that will equate to �160 million and �160 million is just
:09:46. > :09:54.about the net farm income here in Northern Ireland. So you know,
:09:54. > :09:58.there is a lot of concern out there. I think the farmers are a resilient
:09:58. > :10:00.bunch but they can only take so much, and it is a very sad
:10:00. > :10:05.reflection on the industry that the profitability isn't there.
:10:05. > :10:11.High costs hurt, but it is a series of factors that are hitting farming
:10:11. > :10:14.hard. You get -- it has been a horrendous
:10:14. > :10:17.year for weather as far as prices are concerned. They have stayed
:10:17. > :10:21.static throughout most of the year and their costs are rising. They
:10:21. > :10:25.are in a real classic income squeeze. So no, I don't think this
:10:25. > :10:29.time they are crying wolf, they are in a genuine crisis.
:10:29. > :10:39.And the crisis threatens to keep the next generation of farmers off
:10:39. > :10:40.
:10:40. > :10:44.the land. The Taylors' farmed outside
:10:44. > :10:49.Coleraine for generations. Denis wants to follow his father into
:10:49. > :10:59.farming. Hi Denis. How are you? Well what
:10:59. > :11:00.
:11:00. > :11:03.happened today? Oh just general feeding and get the houses cleared
:11:03. > :11:07.for cattle. Are these for market soon?
:11:07. > :11:12.Hopefully for market around Christmas time. Denis says the
:11:12. > :11:18.returns from the land aren't enough. At the minute there is nothing to
:11:18. > :11:22.encourage young people into farming and if things stay the way they are,
:11:22. > :11:25.I will not be at it in a year's time or maybe two years time, I
:11:25. > :11:30.can't justify it anymore and I have my family to think of. We are not
:11:30. > :11:37.getting what it is costing us to produce the food. It is very hard
:11:37. > :11:44.to explain how it feels to be in a downward industry at the minute.
:11:45. > :11:49.People don't see the downs, it is a heartbreaking job at times too.
:11:49. > :11:56.Nobody else would work for less than the cost of production. So why
:11:56. > :12:02.should we? While the industry is frequently
:12:02. > :12:07.referred to as a billion pound success story, farms here only see
:12:07. > :12:11.a tinly fraction of this. A few months ago, Ulster Farmers' Union
:12:11. > :12:14.members took their grievances to the consumer. They staged a protest
:12:14. > :12:23.and opened a farm stall for the public, selling food at the price
:12:23. > :12:27.they would get from supermarkets. It costs you �4.50. We only get
:12:27. > :12:37.�1.50 for it. Farm Farmers say prices don't cover
:12:37. > :12:42.their costs. A chicken at �1.15. That's terrible. It is disgraceful.
:12:42. > :12:46.Absolutely disgraceful in this day and age. I love getting paid for my
:12:46. > :12:49.job. They should be able to get paid for their job.
:12:49. > :12:53.Derry farmers protested in England and Wales at the low prices
:12:53. > :12:59.supermarkets and their suppliers were paying them for their milk.
:12:59. > :13:05.Some big named store stores upped prices for farmers. Recent figures
:13:05. > :13:09.show milk prices have risen here too, but for cattle farmers like
:13:09. > :13:14.Ray Elkin, covering his annual costs remains a struggle, farmers
:13:14. > :13:18.like him are clear on where the problem lies. They say relailers
:13:18. > :13:23.simply -- retailers simply aren't paying enough.
:13:23. > :13:28.The big retailers tell us they are buying X number of tonnes of
:13:28. > :13:32.produce from Northern Ireland, why wouldn't they? It is below the cost
:13:32. > :13:36.of production. This complaint is echoed across
:13:36. > :13:41.Northern Ireland. Many farmers say they have been disregarded by the
:13:41. > :13:47.retailer. It is a view shared by Sean McCauley who farms outside
:13:47. > :13:52.Ballymoneyy. We are working below cost of
:13:52. > :13:57.production figures. It is not sustainable. An industry that
:13:57. > :14:01.provides one vital item that people need on a regular basis and that's
:14:01. > :14:05.food. But quality food produced to the highest standards and the
:14:05. > :14:08.producer on the ground is not getting paid for what he is
:14:08. > :14:12.producing. Like others we have spoken to, Sean
:14:12. > :14:16.believes that supermarket chains can afford to pay farmers like him
:14:16. > :14:20.more, without adding to their customer's shopping bills. But
:14:20. > :14:26.representatives for the supermarkets say the consumer comes
:14:26. > :14:29.first. Retailers like those you represent
:14:30. > :14:36.are making gigantic profits, billions of pounds a year, surely
:14:36. > :14:41.they could give a little more to ensure the the of the agriculture
:14:41. > :14:45.sector? As far as the market that we have here in Northern Ireland,
:14:45. > :14:48.yes we work a lot with our suppliers. Yes, we do buy a huge
:14:48. > :14:52.amount in Northern Ireland, but what we are trying to do is bring
:14:52. > :14:56.that to a wider market. What we are trying to do is make sure that
:14:56. > :15:01.there is a sustainable supply chain and we are trying to make sure
:15:01. > :15:05.there is an affordable quality produce there for the consumer in
:15:05. > :15:09.Northern Ireland. I have been doing a round of
:15:09. > :15:14.meetings with the supermarkets and we are doing all we can to support
:15:14. > :15:19.farmers. Are you talking to the supermarkets in such a way to get
:15:19. > :15:22.them to give a fairer price? the farming minister and that's my
:15:22. > :15:27.job. That's my role. We will continue to engage with them
:15:27. > :15:31.because it is important we emphasise the smaller pricing they
:15:31. > :15:35.are giving to farmers, it is important we highlight that issue
:15:35. > :15:39.and how it is impacting on farmers income.
:15:39. > :15:43.We asked the biggest supermarkets here why farmers weren't getting a
:15:43. > :15:47.better deal? They said they were giving a fair price and they did
:15:47. > :15:56.all they could to support the local farming industry. They pointed out
:15:56. > :16:00.that farmers deal directly with processors. Are they keeping down
:16:00. > :16:03.the prices? The processors said they were finding it difficult in
:16:03. > :16:07.the current economic climate. In an industry where official figures
:16:07. > :16:12.suggest an average of one farm closure every day in recent years,
:16:12. > :16:16.they said more could be done on price by the supermarkets.
:16:16. > :16:19.Well, our friends in the supermarket and I call them our
:16:19. > :16:23.friends because we have to work with them, is going to have to
:16:23. > :16:28.lower their expectations of their margin and give a little more as
:16:28. > :16:32.one of the leading supermarkets say, "Every little helps." Is going to
:16:32. > :16:36.have a little more to the people like ourselves who can give their
:16:37. > :16:41.growers more or a lot of growers will not be here for next year.
:16:41. > :16:44.Other processors say the market is ruled by the demand for cheap food.
:16:44. > :16:48.It is easy to have a go at supermarkets in any discussion like
:16:48. > :16:52.this. For the Northern Ireland industry, they are amongst the best
:16:52. > :16:57.customers that we have. Yes, we would love them to pay for more but
:16:57. > :17:02.they will be the ones who will tell us the implications from the point
:17:02. > :17:06.of view of their customers. Supermarkets and processors told us
:17:06. > :17:10.that it is the market that decides, that means you, the consumer. Do
:17:10. > :17:14.you think that you would be willing to pay more at supermarkets to
:17:14. > :17:17.support local farmers? Yes. If it was a Northern Ireland product I
:17:17. > :17:20.would. Would you be willing to pay more if
:17:20. > :17:25.you thought it would help the farmers? Of course, because I'm
:17:25. > :17:29.from a rural area so the farmers deserve to get more money. They are
:17:29. > :17:31.not getting enough. The supermarkets are doing the
:17:31. > :17:36.farmers damage. People are looking for cheaper
:17:36. > :17:41.prices, but it is unfortunate the farmers are suffering because of it.
:17:41. > :17:50.Farmers protested across the UK, but our local meat producers get
:17:50. > :17:54.less than our counterparts in Great Britain a and are losing up to �120
:17:54. > :17:59.to �140 per animal. Would you say you got a different
:17:59. > :18:04.price than the farmers in England, Scotland and Wales might might get?
:18:04. > :18:07.We are producing to the same standard, in fact we hit those
:18:07. > :18:14.standards before anyone else and the sister plants here and across
:18:14. > :18:19.the water are buying the same kind of animals are are going to markets
:18:19. > :18:22.at reduced prices, it is making life difficult.
:18:22. > :18:27.Again, responsibility for this is unclear.
:18:27. > :18:31.When we meet the processor, they blame the retailer. When we meet
:18:31. > :18:35.the retailer, they say they are giving the same price to somewhere.
:18:35. > :18:40.Somewhere along the line, somebody is telling porkies.
:18:40. > :18:43.We put this to our main supermarkets, they declined to
:18:43. > :18:49.speak to Spotlight. Some later told us they couldn't go into detail for
:18:49. > :18:55.commercial reasons. We aren't the only ones wanting to
:18:55. > :18:59.get to the bottom of price. Next year, Westminster will appoint a
:18:59. > :19:03.grocery adjudicator charged with with investigating complaints about
:19:03. > :19:11.prices paid in the sectorment until recently, the creation of this role
:19:11. > :19:15.had been resisted by almost all of the UK supermarkets.
:19:15. > :19:21.Why did the supermarkets resist the adjudicator for so long? I think
:19:21. > :19:26.like all of these regulatory issues it is not a case of resisting, it
:19:26. > :19:30.is a case of making sure what is put in place is the best for
:19:30. > :19:36.everyone concerned. That it is a case that it is not regulation for
:19:36. > :19:41.the sake of regulation. That it is not doubling up on regulation that
:19:41. > :19:49.already exists and that it is fair and open.
:19:49. > :19:52.We also asked the meat processors about the price difference. We have
:19:52. > :19:56.a seasonal nature to our business as they have south of the border
:19:56. > :19:59.which doesn't exist across the water in GB. That Seasonal side of
:19:59. > :20:04.the business means for the past number of weeks we have seen prices
:20:04. > :20:09.here weaker than they have been in So farmers are getting less money
:20:09. > :20:13.here? At this moment in time in the autumn of the year whenever we are
:20:13. > :20:19.in pig slaughter season, the reality is when cattle numbers are
:20:19. > :20:26.at their highest, you will find our prices are weaker than they are for
:20:26. > :20:28.the rest of the year. The farming union says this affects
:20:28. > :20:33.us all, with Northern Ireland losing out to the tune of millions
:20:33. > :20:38.of pounds a year, they say more should be done.
:20:38. > :20:43.I think supermarkets need to appreciate the farmer more. Some of
:20:43. > :20:48.our processors need to appreciate the farmer more. This summer,
:20:48. > :20:53.within the beef sector, we have seen a price difference of about 40
:20:53. > :20:59.pence per kilo between here and mainland UK and you know that
:20:59. > :21:02.equates to about �140 an animal. It is about �1 million a week is being
:21:02. > :21:05.lost to the Northern Ireland economy.
:21:05. > :21:11.What is clear is that Northern Ireland and the businesses within
:21:11. > :21:16.it, including farming, are part of a global picture now as never
:21:16. > :21:19.before. Nick Price is one of Belfast's most established chefs
:21:19. > :21:22.and restaurant owners. He has represented the food sector
:21:22. > :21:25.publicly for several years and feels our relationship with farming
:21:25. > :21:28.and the food it produces has to change.
:21:28. > :21:31.We have had cheap food for a very long time. I think in the economy
:21:31. > :21:35.that we are in the world at the moment, the cost of food will have
:21:35. > :21:39.to go up. Hopefully farmers will get some of that. Otherwise, they
:21:39. > :21:43.won't be there. They will just disappear.
:21:43. > :21:51.Nick is one of those who argues that innovation is critical if
:21:51. > :21:57.farms here are to survive. I don't think just because you grew
:21:57. > :22:01.cows and sent them to slaughter, it is enough for you to grow cows and
:22:01. > :22:04.send them to slaughter. That is not being anti-farming, moving forward,
:22:04. > :22:08.we want a vibrant, profitable farming industry.
:22:08. > :22:16.But it is the lifeline of European subsidies that keeps farming alive
:22:16. > :22:26.here. Most of the aid, �0.25 billion arrives in the form of the
:22:26. > :22:28.
:22:28. > :22:31.single farm payment.. People say it is unfair that farmer are
:22:31. > :22:35.subsidised. You either pay the subsidy and you get cheap food or
:22:35. > :22:39.you don't pay the subsidy and you have to pay a higher price for food
:22:39. > :22:43.in the shops. But That subsidy is vital to farmers here and this will
:22:43. > :22:47.be one of them and it is likely to be more than the total income from
:22:47. > :22:51.farming. Many new farmers came into the business only after the
:22:51. > :22:55.qualifying period for subsidies ended. As a result, they get
:22:55. > :22:59.nothing. Sure the first thing the bank would ask me is how much is my
:22:59. > :23:06.single farm payment for paying it back, so it was no benefit to me.
:23:06. > :23:09.You don't get any payment? I don't get any payment. It is the first
:23:09. > :23:13.thing the bank wants to know because it is the only sure money
:23:13. > :23:17.you have. Three generations of Taylors have
:23:17. > :23:21.worked the land here. The family isn't certain that a fourth
:23:21. > :23:26.generation will follow. Until he can afford to move out, Denis lives
:23:27. > :23:30.with his wife and children on his father, William's farm. William is
:23:30. > :23:35.calling for action. Farmers like him propose that Europe can slash
:23:35. > :23:45.subsidies in exchange for minimum price guarantees. We need a line in
:23:45. > :23:46.
:23:46. > :23:50.the sand which gives the farmer a safety net, a safety net income
:23:50. > :23:55.guarantee for his produce and until this is in place, we are not going
:23:55. > :23:59.to win the battle with the large supermarkets. Thisser too big and
:23:59. > :24:02.too powerful when they face against individual family farmers. We do
:24:02. > :24:08.need this line in the sand and that line in the sand, we think, needs
:24:08. > :24:15.to come from Brussels. Any solution to the big problems
:24:15. > :24:19.with farming here rests with the EU. Reform to subsidised farming is
:24:19. > :24:23.pending as nearly everyone agrees the current system is unsustainable.
:24:23. > :24:28.It is the nature of the system that we live in where we want to support
:24:28. > :24:32.farmers, to make them have viable businesses and also to keep the
:24:32. > :24:37.price of food down. That's why we do it. But we now have, we have got
:24:37. > :24:43.to the situation where the agriculture budget is half of the
:24:43. > :24:46.total EU budget. A massive amount of money and and because of the
:24:46. > :24:51.financial situation we are in there is pressure to produce that budget.
:24:51. > :24:57.And in changing times, there will be those who get left behind.
:24:57. > :25:01.farming industry is so vital to the many of our rural communities that
:25:01. > :25:07.its survival is crucial, but that cannot let us be distracted from
:25:07. > :25:11.the fact that in its current guise many of the farms are not viable.
:25:11. > :25:15.Farming of tomorrow will not look like the farming of yesterday.
:25:15. > :25:21.That reality is sinkinging in. The mood in the countryside appears to
:25:21. > :25:26.be one of resignation, that for many their way of life no longer
:25:26. > :25:32.seems viable. Sean McCauley, bleaches not enough is being done
:25:32. > :25:37.by our politicians. The Admiral Turner mrtion at -- the
:25:37. > :25:44.administration at Stormont could do more. The big question is are we
:25:44. > :25:47.going to let agriculture go? Our agricultural colleges are full of
:25:47. > :25:52.students at the moment, highest grades needed to get into them. Are
:25:52. > :25:57.we we going to have an industry fit for purpose when they qualify?
:25:57. > :26:01.People don't realise the pressure that some people are under.
:26:01. > :26:07.Those trying to support farming communities have noticed a rise in
:26:07. > :26:10.calls for help. Farmers are under a lot of pressure
:26:10. > :26:15.at the moment, not only the weather situation, but financial
:26:15. > :26:20.difficulties, issues around debt, mental health issues are also a
:26:20. > :26:23.significant problem. We need to remember that the agricultural food
:26:23. > :26:27.sector in Northern Ireland is vital to the Northern Ireland economy and
:26:27. > :26:30.we need to provide support to farmers and to people involved in
:26:30. > :26:35.the industry to ensure that it continues.
:26:35. > :26:41.Stormont has created a Strategy Board to help develop the
:26:41. > :26:45.agricultural food sector at home while promoting it abroad. The
:26:45. > :26:48.Minister for Agriculture was in China last week in search of new
:26:48. > :26:53.export opportunities. However, this Strategy Board has stated that it
:26:53. > :27:02.will not address the vexed question of pricing. The main issue for many
:27:02. > :27:04.farmers. Pricing and those issues are in the mix. They are all being
:27:04. > :27:08.discussed and everything is on the table.
:27:08. > :27:15.But pricing isn't discussed because you have said it is beyond your
:27:15. > :27:19.remit? It is beyond my my remit m is there any way they can drive out
:27:19. > :27:24.the costs we have? We have to look at those things and then farmers
:27:24. > :27:30.will be producing in the most efficient manner which they can.
:27:30. > :27:34.Others see real change on the horizon.
:27:34. > :27:39.Many farms will close. We need to learn the lessons of those that
:27:39. > :27:49.closed and look at those in existence and ask what changes
:27:49. > :27:52.maybe required and that may mean mergers of farms. Co-operatives
:27:52. > :27:57.forming. The financial difficulties in the
:27:57. > :28:00.countryside are at at odds with the expectation and hope for the
:28:00. > :28:04.agricultural food sector. How it can grow and develop when farmers
:28:04. > :28:10.are clearly facing the most difficult of circumstances is a
:28:10. > :28:13.mystery to many. At Ray Elkin's farm, the TB test
:28:13. > :28:19.proved negative. His farm will remain open over the
:28:19. > :28:25.coming winter months. Like many, he is determined to hold on, come what
:28:25. > :28:28.may. When I met Ray, he wasn't going to do anything else. That was
:28:28. > :28:33.him. He never wanted to do anything else. He had other opportunities
:28:33. > :28:37.when he was younger, but he wanted to be a farmer and that was that. I
:28:37. > :28:39.would say there is still people like that. We hope that we will
:28:39. > :28:44.carry on. But what will the industry look
:28:44. > :28:50.like in the next few years? One phrase I kept hearing was that