Farmers For Action hold their 'best yet' protest outside Tesco in Cookstown calling for an end to policies destroying family farms

The protest at the Broadfield retail park in the town is the fourth in a series of protests that have been staged across Northern Ireland challenging major supermarkets and Government to end policies and practices that farmers claim are destroying family farms, food security, and rural livelihoods

FFA representative William Taylor said: “All credit must go to all those farmers, young and older, that came from Coleraine, Dungiven, Benburb, Omagh, Cookstown and further afield to support the continuing IHT Phase 2 weekly protests.

“These protests are building up to early March, when 11 letters that were sent out to 11 of the largest corporate food retailers in the UK, Tesco included, are being asked to support four vital questions for the survival of family farmers across the UK and to lobby Government accordingly.

"It is worth remembering that the great George Best did his best to advertise the Cookstown sausage decades back to put money into the area and his proud young photograph with his other half and the owner of the Royal Hotel Cookstown still hangs proudly in the Royal Hotel, while today, the FFA protests are all about trying to prevent giant corporate food retailers sucking the financial life blood out of not only the Cookstown area but across the UK.”

Sean McAuley FFA added: “The stars of the night were the ladies who handed out the flyers to Tesco shoppers, our customers - along with well known local farmer Bertie Kelso, who grabbed the leaflets, got to work handing out flyers to the departing shoppers in their carsstating to us, 'somebody has to get the message out!'

"In addition, another young farmer grabbed the leaflets and unusually had great success handing the leaflets out to inbound shoppers in their cars – all credit must go to everyone who turned up in their tractors, pick-ups and wellies and made the protest a completesuccess, so much so we ran out of leaflets."

The FFA say they plan to hold another protest on Thursday, February 26, at the Tesco Bridgewater retail park in Banbridge, Co Down.