A Tesco car park in Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, was filled with tractors and farm vehicles as farmers staged the biggest protest ever over changes to inheritance tax and pressure on supermarket revenues.
The demonstration was the fourth week of the county-by-county campaign, with farmers taking part from across Northern Ireland, including Coleraine, Dungiven, Benburb and Omagh.
Organizers say the weekly protests are part of “IHT Phase 2”, which is ramping up in early March with a letter sent to 11 of the UK’s biggest food retailers, including Tesco, asking them to support four key demands aimed at the long-term survival of family farms.
William Taylor from Farmers for Action said: “All credit should go to all the farmers, young and old, who came to support the ongoing weekly IHT Phase 2 protests.”
He said the campaign focused on asking retailers to support issues around fair profits, supply chain balance and the broader viability of family farming, and lobbying governments accordingly.
In a sharp comparison, Mr Taylor said George Best, who once helped promote Cookstown’s famous sausages, said the protests were aimed at ridding rural areas of “big corporate food retailers sucking the financial blood out of them”.
Leaflets outlining the group’s concerns were distributed to Tesco shoppers throughout the evening.
Sean McCauley, from Farmers for Action, said: “The stars of the night were the women who handed out leaflets to Tesco shoppers – our customers.”
He also praised the local farmers who took part in the effort, telling organizers, “Someone has to get the message across!”
Organizers said there were so many participants that they ran out of flyers before the protest ended.
The Cookstown event is part of a further expansion of farmer-led demonstrations across the UK in 2026, which will target British supermarkets and major retailers.
Activists across the country say low Farmgate returns, rising input costs and uncertainty around inheritance tax reform are increasing the strain on family businesses.
Tesco has not publicly responded to the Cookstown protests.
The next demonstration in Northern Ireland will take place on Thursday February 26th at the Tesco Bridgewater Retail Park in Banbridge, Colorado.
Organizers say pressure will only intensify unless retailers and ministers directly engage with farmers’ concerns.
