NI farming has faced plenty of crises over the last 30 years, whether it is Foot and Mouth Disease, BSE, low commodity prices or Brexit, but as local politicians finalise climate change legislation, the next few days are perhaps the most important of our lifetime.

Quite simply the industry has been taken to the brink by those who failed to grasp the implications for agriculture by their insistence that NI must get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

We would defy anyone to watch back the Climate Change Summit from last Wednesday and think that a net zero target for NI farming was either fair or equitable.

As an industry, we owe a sincere debt of gratitude to Professor Myles Allen for stepping forward and setting out the issue in clear terms, and to all the speakers who took to the stage, when the easy thing was to avoid any potential political controversy and say nothing.

Statements

It is also important to acknowledge the powerful statements made from the floor by farmers from right across the industry, and to recognise those politicians who turned up to listen to the concerns expressed, or have since engaged on the issues raised.

And for those politicians that refuse to back a separate target for biogenic methane, they either don’t understand the issue, are against animal agriculture, or want farmers to pick up the tab

That has led us to a place where there is now an opportunity to get this legislation right, and ensure that an amendment is now voted through that delivers a separate target for biogenic methane.

What is vital is that politicians act responsibly and back the right amendment This issue is way too important to be playing party politics.

And for those politicians that refuse to back a separate target for biogenic methane, they either don’t understand the issue, are against animal agriculture, or want farmers to pick up the tab for the ill-gotten gains of the fossil fuel industry. They can justify their actions to voters before the elections in May.

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