Farmers have called for a rethink of how the island’s agricultural sector is governed, even as they welcomed a move to eliminate some of the fee burden.

The Bermuda Farmers Association applauded measures announced in the 2026 Budget Statement to remove expenses for processing agricultural items.

However, a BFA spokesman said greater threats faced local food production.

He said: “The past six months have seen farmers literally reduced to tears with damages from hurricanes and storms that have been merciless. Crops have had to be replanted as a regular occurrence at enormous cost.

“The viability of farming in Bermuda is in jeopardy with climate change that is real.

“The BFA wishes to focus on more meaningful and substantive areas where both real cost savings will be realised and productivity of farmers increased from existing land under cultivation.”

The spokesman said the fees axed in the Budget had been “red tape”.

He added: “These changes were only recently added to government ‘requirements' which had the effect of delaying the processing of imported farm inputs that, in turn, negatively affected farm productivity.

“These completely unnecessary requirements were difficult and more expensive to collect, adding to taxpayer expense while stressing the resources of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources that drafted them.”

The spokesman said there was a fundamental need to restructure how agricultural issues got administrated by the Government, suggesting the return of a dedicated Department of Agriculture to help support local food production.

He said: “The DENR, which has managed this role since the closure of the Department of Agriculture, is not up to this task as its primary function is one of regulation only.

“Under its management, farmers have faced years of import restrictions and red tape that have hindered farming. There has been no overall mandate to promote the growing of food, and this does not align with Government’s stated objectives of creating food security and resilience.”

In lieu of creating a new department, the spokesman suggested a new position be established within the Government with the mission of promoting, supporting and overseeing Bermuda’s agricultural and horticultural interests.

He said: “This position should be at the new Agricultural Service Centre, and the person chosen have senior authority over the DENR lab for critical decisions in the public interest as was the case in the past.

“At present, the farmers and nurseries think that the decisions being made regarding the importation of plant material, testing requirements and more are overreaching the objectives of the protecting the Bermuda’s environment to the detriment of food production and the horticultural sectors in Bermuda.

“An agricultural strategy adopted by the BFA and shared at the Board of Agriculture is to increase the local production of food by 5 per cent over five years as a starting point.

“To do this, we need to allow processes and permits to grow strawberries, new cultivars of sweet potato, new avocado strains, fruit budwood and more.”

The spokesman pointed to other actions that could cut costs for farming in Bermuda, including the reduction of immigration fees and the return of short-term work permits for seasonal labour requirements.

He said that water rates should also be lowered and electricity rates removed from rates as indicated for household use in the Budget.

The spokesman also urged a more aggressive targeting of the island’s feral chickens — even with tougher measures rolled out in December.

He said farmers were being stripped of freshly planted fields every day, and the birds could present a serious public health hazard.

He said: “This issue needs the commitment of far greater resources than allocated at present to at least begin to bring it under some form of control.

“Without control, field production is becoming unsustainable. Farmers are paying with their own time and money to solve an island-wide problem not of their making but one that devastates crops.”

The spokesman added that the Government should reinstate its apprenticeship programme for those interested in a career in agriculture.

A government spokesman did not respond to a request for comment as of press time.