A new environmental module in the Red Tractor quality assurance scheme will contain measures that are already being rolled out in NI, the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) has said.

“Most of the measures within the bolt-on are already covered within NI or will be conditional under new government farm support policies and schemes going forward,” said UFU president David Brown.

“Introducing this environment module to the Red Tractor Scheme will create unnecessary duplication which is unacceptable,” he maintained.

The new module was announced last week, although it has received an angry response from farmer representatives who say they were not consulted on the plans.

“The UFU has not been involved with the development of this bolt-on module despite UFU representatives sitting on the advisory and sector boards,” Brown said.

“The environment module is being publicised as a voluntary measure, but usually these ‘voluntary measures’ inevitably become an industry standard. It is only a matter of time until everyone will be required to adhere to it,” he added.