2014-07-25 |
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Agrisearch and AHWNI to Co-operate in Levy Collection
With effect from 1st August 2014 the levy collected on behalf of AgriSearch (The Northern Ireland Agricultural Research and Development Council) per head of cattle slaughtered in Northern Ireland will increase to 40 pence per head.
10 pence per head of this increased levy will be passed to Animal Health and Welfare Northern Ireland to help fund the management of their disease control programmes.
Commenting on the new levy arrangements John Thompson, Chair of Animal Health and Welfare Northern Ireland, said "This regular stream of income is needed to help fund the running of the Northern Ireland BVD Eradication Scheme and other disease control programmes. The benefits of controlling production diseases will yield an excellent rate of return on the small amount of levy being collected."
The remaining 30 pence of the 40 pence levy will be used to fund AgriSearch's Beef Research and Development programme. Until now the levy rates for AgriSearch have not been changed since the organisation was founded in 1997. As a result inflation has eaten into the "buying power" of the levy.
Commenting on the levy increase AgriSearch Chair James Campbell said "The Trustees of AgriSearch remain committed to extracting the best possible value from the levies collected. From its formation in 1997 to the end of the 2013 financial year AgriSearch had committed £5.2 million of its funds and had levered additional funds to bring the total research spend up to £20.7 million. AgriSearch is actively looking at additional external funding streams such as the EU Horizon 2020 programme and the UK Agri-Tech funding to lever additional funds to finance its research and development programmes."
