Representatives from the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) and environmental lobby groups agreed at an event in Limavady on Monday that a new approach is needed to environmental regulation in NI.

Speaking at the UFU roadshow event, Patrick Casement from NI Environment Link said that farmers should be able to get advice on an environmental issue without the risk of being fined by the NI Environment Agency (NIEA). “Regulation and enforcement is taking precedent over advice and help. The two should be separate and not carried out by the same people. If the farmer fails to take the advice that was given, then that’s the point when enforcement should come in,” Casement said.

Agreeing with him, Ulster Wildlife chief executive Jennifer Fulton compared it with a driver being caught speeding, where the opportunity is given to attend a speed awareness course before fines are enforced.

“It is something we have always advocated. We want more carrot and less stick,” commented UFU president Barclay Bell.

During a question session, the debate moved on to the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) with Dungiven farmer Ian Buchanan critical of various measures within the scheme.

“We have been grazing 80 ewes on the heather but the EFS plan will limit us to 28, which is ridiculous because it is already slightly under grazed. Farmers are professionals that know more than anyone about the land that they farm. We don’t need people dictating to us,” he said.

In response, Fulton said how habitats are described, and where payments are available, is limited in NI under current EU rules. She pointed out that Brexit could be an opportunity to have a more farm-specific approach.

Debate on badger cull

While there were a number of areas where the UFU leadership team and environmental counterparts are in agreement, it was the thorny issue of wildlife intervention to control bovine TB, that raised most debate.

Jennifer Fulton from Ulster Wildlife warned farmers that a cull of badgers in NI could damage the reputation of the NI beef and dairy sectors among wildlife conscience consumers in Britain.

However, those comments were too much for UFU deputy president Victor Chestnutt (pictured) who pointed out that the livestock sector could not market its products easily if NI remained “the TB capital of the world”.

Following a series of questions from the floor about wildlife intervention, Fulton said: “We haven’t said ‘no cull’. It’s about finding a way that is acceptable to the general public.”

She also made a comment that the badger population in NI has remained steady over the past 15 years at around 38,000.

Chestnutt then asked for a show of hands to gauge farmers’ experiences of badgers on their land over the past 15 years. All but one farmer, estimated that badger numbers are up on their farms.