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The five-times delayed UK border controls started to come into effect this week at the same time as a deal was sorted out to almost solve the management of Northern Ireland’s unique position as part of the UK and EU single market.
The term 'almost' has to be used because while the issue of moving cattle between Northern Ireland and Britain for shows and sales has been sorted, the issue with access to veterinary medicines beyond 2025 remains outstanding.
This isn’t an immediate problem and there is a sense that in the new collaborative EU-UK relationship under the current prime minister, a permanent solution to the veterinary medicines issue can also be found.
This all means that irrespective of the political sensitivities around the arrangement, for farmers a degree of certainty will be in place with the agreement.
That is probably as good as could be hoped for from a farming perspective and there is a year to sort out on a permanent basis the outstanding veterinary medicines issue.
Workable solution
What is in place now is a workable solution to preserve trade on a north-south and east-west basis.
The merit of both types of trade tends to get mixed up in wider politics, but for farmers in Northern Ireland, the highest value and volume market is in the rest of the UK, just as it is, by the way, for farmers in the Republic of Ireland.
However, when it comes to processing the produce from farms either side of the border on the island of Ireland, it is very much a single market.
One third of milk produced in Northern Ireland and 40% of sheep are processed south of the border, while 400,000 pigs, and 50,000 cattle move the other way.
The latest modification to border controls between Britain and Northern Ireland isn’t an elimination of paperwork and it isn’t a return to the single market system of trading that was in place pre-Brexit.
However, it is an improvement and a workable solution for most trading situations.
Local government restored
This resolution also means that devolved government will be restored to Northern Ireland and farmers will wait anxiously to see who finishes up as agriculture minister and what their policy preferences will be.
This is important for Northern Irish farmers, as agricultural policy is a devolved matter, so policy will be made in Belfast.
One such example is the current payment on cattle going to the factory under 30 months, which is now worth £40 (€47) per head, which was designed during the last Stormont administration which finished its term in 2022.
As is now the case everywhere, there will be a robust debate on reconciling production from agriculture with reduction of emissions and protecting the environment.
Last year, the largest freshwater lake in these islands - Lough Neagh - came into the spotlight having turned green.
Farming was blamed and while it may have contributed, increased domestic housing and wider industry will also have played a part.
In any case, with government restored, we can expect this and several other issues to come across the desk of the incoming minister and farmers will be hoping that, regardless of party, the appointee has a good understanding of the brief and an ability to combine the need to encourage productive agriculture alongside minimising emissions and caring for the environment.
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