Debate contribution: Farming Community: DAERA Engagement
Debate contribution by Mr Andrew Muir on .
- MLA
- Mr Andrew Muir
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 7 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Farming Community: DAERA Engagement
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5669938
Read the official Assembly record
Text
My officials and I continue to engage directly and regularly with the farming community and its representative bodies on the work that my Department does in order to ensure open dialogue, practical engagement and continued partnership working. That engagement takes place through established forums, including the agricultural policy stakeholder group, the tuberculosis partnership steering group and the nutrients action programme stakeholder task and finish group, and through regular meetings with the Ulster Farmers' Union and the Northern Ireland Agricultural Producers Association. I also place significant importance on direct on-the-ground engagement. I have visited 55 farms since becoming Minister. Those visits provide me with an important opportunity to hear directly from farmers about the issues affecting them and ensure that they can inform the Department's work. I recognise and share the concerns about the operation at Fivemiletown. That is why I commissioned an independent external review of the Department's implementation of the court deprivation order in Fivemiletown to ensure that there is a transparent, evidence-based assessment of the planning, decision-making and implementation of that operation. More broadly, there are significant challenges and opportunities facing farmers in Northern Ireland. My Department will continue to work constructively with the sector to improve animal health, support sustainable agriculture, restore our environment and help create a thriving future for farming. I remain committed to listening to, and engaging with, farmers and their representatives. Next week, I will meet the Ulster Farmers' Union. I look forward to having further constructive discussions.
245 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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