madam president i would like to thank the commissioner for coming to listen to us once again and i want to highlight just a number of issues which have been very prevalent in northern ireland within the agricultural industry over the last number of months
you may have read commissioner that in county fermanagh we have suffered extreme flooding over the last number of weeks
this has led to very severe difficulties for farmers not least gaining access to stock in the fields with many roads closed and impassable because of rain
it will also affect their ability to spread slurry and just the general losses that they have
i would encourage the commission to look into this issue and indicate whether there can be direct help for farmers in this sector
i would also encourage the commission to look at the potato industry in northern ireland
a number of potato farmers have written to me recently because they have been very badly affected by the very high levels of rainfall in recent weeks as well
they are expressing extreme concern about their ability to get potatoes out of the ground and with frost fast approaching with the onset of the winter months they fear that they will lose their crops
so again this is an industry and part of the agricultural industry in northern ireland which is going thorough a very difficult time
just recently i also met with a number of egg producers farmers who are currently in the process of changing to the enhanced cages
they would like from the commission a guarantee that they will not be required to change those cages again for a considerable period of time and again i would encourage the commission to look into this
