CEO of Rural Support Veronica Morris pictured with George Mullan, Managing Director ABP in Northern Ireland and Karen Patterson, MC for the special event hosted by ABP at Balmoral Show recently to highlight the work of Rural Support and how the industry can work together to support the farming community during a turbulent time of rising input costs

As part of its Platinum Sponsorship of the Balmoral Show, ABP hosted an event for the charity to discuss what can practically be done in relation to support, information and guidance to help farmers and their families.

It was attended by over 60 key stakeholders across industry and government including the Agriculture Minister, Edwin Poots who spoke at the event. A panel discussion focused on the significant and real challenges that farmers across Northern Ireland are dealing with and the realistic ways of managing the rapid change that the sector is experiencing as a result of various factors, including the impact of input costs.

Veronica Morris, Chief Executive of Rural Support said, “We are acutely aware of the impact that current challenges in the industry are having on farming families across Northern Ireland and many of these are outside our control.”

“We wanted to ensure that the farming community know where and how to access support before the current pressures begin to impact their well-being. The event was a great success. We had an excellent response. The new relationships built from it and the cementing of existing ones is a fantastic outcome for the charity.”

This year Rural Support celebrates its 20^th year and, in that time, the organisation has supported over 10,000 members of farm families across Northern Ireland providing independent guidance and support.

While there are significant challenges ahead, the take-away message from the event was that the future is always difficult to predict but the farming community is resilient, and support is available.