AFBI economists plays a key role in generating evidence for agri-food policies regionally and nationally. AFBI research focuses on guaranteed supply chain analysis, price stability, product quality, land use policy and employment. Agriculture is proportionally more significant in Northern Ireland than any other part of the UK in terms of employment and economic contribution and as such anything that affects the sector, either negatively or positively, will have significant impacts.
BREXIT is imposing further uncertainty on the farm sector in addition to the challenges it currently faces from price and income volatility. Throughout the UK – and especially in Northern Ireland – farm business incomes, particularly in the beef and sheep sectors, are currently dependent on direct and indirect support from Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Current research by AFBI Economics is analysing the economic impacts of Brexit on the agri-food sector at UK level and individually for Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.
Related Projects
- The Potential Impacts of the UK Immigration Policy on the NI Agri-food Economy
- Dairy Productivity Growth in Northern Ireland: Trends and Drivers
- Analysis of Agricultural Commodity Markets: FAPRI-UK Project
- Contribution of rural areas to the Northern Ireland Economy
- Linkages of the Agri-food sectors to the wider economy and environment
- Sustainability of the Northern Ireland Nephrops Fishing Fleet – an analysis of the balance between fishing capacity and fishing opportunities
- Improving forest productivity and exploiting opportunities
- An assessment of the impact of government support measures in encouraging entrepreneurship, business innovation and diversification at the farm level
- Development of an Evaluation Framework to Facilitate Future Longitudinal Evaluation of Business Development Group Programme Impacts on Farm Performance
- Barriers to new entrants to farming
- Evaluating the effectiveness of Axis-3 LEADER Grants on Job Creation
- Agri-Food supply chain