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After three years of non-decision making and stalemate, the pressure is on new DAERA minister Edwin Poots to deliver on a range of key issues for NI farmers.
At the UFU winter roadshow meeting in Enniskillen earlier this week, members were told that the minister had a brief meeting with senior UFU figures on Monday during which he expressed an interest in grant aid to help NI farmers reduce ammonia emissions.
This would most likely be delivered through incentivising low emission slurry spreading equipment in a third tranche of the Tier I capital grant scheme.
“By the middle or end of summer, we should have some sort of a grant in place again,” suggested UFU deputy president Victor Chestnutt.
Also discussed with Minister Poots was the link between ammonia emissions and planning, with UFU president Ivor Ferguson telling members that the minister “shared our concern about the way Shared Environment Services (SES) has been treating us on ammonia”.
The UFU is currently involved in legal proceedings with SES, the body that advises councils on planning issues, over its decision to tighten planning rules on ammonia emissions without prior consultation.
TB policy
A new bovine TB eradication policy was also discussed in the brief exchange between the DUP politician and UFU leaders.
“He mentioned that TB is something he is going to be looking at as quickly as possible,” Ferguson told members.
The DUP has previously showed support for culling badgers in TB hotspot areas, including in its response to a DAERA consultation in early 2018.
In its 2019 general election manifesto, the party said that “a holistic approach” is needed to tackling TB.
“Continuing with the status quo will not solve the problem,” it said.
Marketing
Meanwhile, the newly formed NI Executive is set to be lobbied by the wider agri food industry to quickly establish an NI agri food marketing body to help get access to new international markets.
The “New Decade, New Approach” deal, which was agreed last week by the main NI political parties, included a proposal to set up a new trade advisory body, and a “Made in NI” campaign.
“It’s a very opportune time to put a marketing board for NI back on the table again. There are big markets all around the world, but we haven’t been good enough at getting market access,” the UFU president said.
The UFU will also be lobbying Minister Poots on post-Brexit support schemes.
Ferguson warned that NI farmers cannot be left with less financial support than farmers in the Republic of Ireland, particularly because NI will still need to follow EU rules as set out in the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
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