There is significant support for area-based payments to be kept in their current form in NI until at least 2021, and at a lower rate into the longer term, as part of a future NI agricultural policy. The proposals around future payments were set out in DAERA’s stakeholder engagement document on future NI agricultural policy, which closed to responses last week.
There is significant support for area-based payments to be kept in their current form in NI until at least 2021, and at a lower rate into the longer term, as part of a future NI agricultural policy.
The proposals around future payments were set out in DAERA’s stakeholder engagement document on future NI agricultural policy, which closed to responses last week.
Among the main political parties, both the DUP and Sinn Féin indicated to the Irish Farmers Journal that they were in favour of retaining current Basic Payment entitlements until a new agricultural policy is agreed.
It is something that was also supported by the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) in its response. However, the UFU did not comment on whether entitlement values should be frozen at 2019 values or continue to move to the regional average by 2021.
In the longer term, there also appears to be appetite among NI politicians and the UFU for some form of area-based payment to be included as part of a post-Brexit NI agricultural policy.
A Basic Farm Resilience Support payment is proposed in the DAERA document. It would be paid at a lower rate than current CAP payments, with the aim to offset income volatility and encourage compliance with environmental standards.
The UFU said that the payment should be “based on productivity, efficiency and linked to inflation”. The union said that the exact levels of payment required would be dependent on post-Brexit trading arrangements, but added that it was “totally opposed” to tiering (based on land area claimed) and capping of payments.
“We also fully recognise the need for an additional support payment to be made for natural disadvantage,” the UFU’s submission reads.
Retained
In Sinn Féin’s submission to DAERA, the party said that the current CAP should be retained. However, it would support front-loaded payments, giving an example of €400/ha for the first 10ha and €150/ha thereafter, and proposes that resilience support payments should be capped “at an appropriate level”.
On the proposed Basic Farm Resilience Support payment, a DUP spokesperson said: “We see the merit in such a system, but it must not be used to skew the land tenure market.” The spokesperson said that other proposals also need to be explored further, including agri environment measures and insurance-type schemes for income volatility.
The latter is something that the UFU said it was “generally opposed” to being introduced, although its final position is dependent on the outcome of the Brexit process. The UFU’s submission to DAERA also suggests that payments for agri environment measures need to go beyond covering only costs incurred and income foregone.
Funding
“It is essential for NI to maintain at least the existing level of investment in farming,” the UFU response reads. The union also pointed out that elements discussed in the DAERA document including education, research and supply chain transparency, should be funded from other public sources.
A DAERA spokesperson confirmed that over 1,200 submissions to the stakeholder engagement document were received before it closed to responses.
The Department point out that the responses will be used to “inform further developmental work” and will not constrain a future NI agriculture minister. Ultimately, it will be for a minister to make final decisions.
“There are no plans at this stage for further stakeholder engagement on specific proposals,” the spokesperson added.
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