Debate contribution: On-farm Investment

Debate contribution by Miss Michelle McIlveen on 17 June 2024.

MLA

Miss Michelle McIlveen

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

17 June 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

On-farm Investment

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4496261

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

For context, Northern Ireland is required to tackle ammonia to improve air quality and habitats. In Northern Ireland, approximately 96% of ammonia emissions come from agriculture. When ammonia is emitted into the air, it is subsequently deposited as nitrogen onto land and water, acting as a fertiliser. If it falls on sensitive species, that can result in damage and loss. That is particularly the case in areas designated as special areas of conservation (SACs), special protection areas (SPAs) and areas of special scientific interest (ASSIs). NIEA estimates that most of those designated areas and other priority habitats receive levels of nitrogen that are significantly above their critical load, which is the concentration at which damage occurs. Because of that, DAERA wishes to reduce emissions to protect those habitats to allow them to comply with their legal biodiversity obligations. Set against that, food and drink production is worth £6 million to the Northern Ireland economy. It is our largest manufacturing sector, supports a workforce of around 113,000 and is served by other sectors such as transport, animal health and construction. It should not be understated how important farming is to our economy, our environment and our people. It is for that reason that the debate has been tabled today. Our planning system is under considerable stress. One of the primary causes of that is gridlock in our statutory agencies. We are already aware of the delays and workarounds that have taken place as a result of the underfunding of Northern Ireland Water (NIW). In my constituency, we see considerable delays caused by staffing shortages in the southern divisional office of DFI. We are also seeing — this is a key part of the motion — the issues surrounding ammonia impact on the planning system. Farmers need to reinvest in their businesses and replace existing buildings in order to modernise and meet new standards, including animal health and welfare and environmental targets. New and replacement buildings help them to improve the environmental impact in Northern Ireland. They also help the industry to remain competitive. Over-stringent bureaucracy or uncertainty in the application of regulation causes delay, and that impacts on development and progress. The rules around ammonia adversely impact on local farmers when they apply for planning permission. The rules require an assessment to be carried out of the impact of a development on protected habitats, and NIEA will be consulted if there are any designated sites or priority habitats within 7·5 kilometres of the proposed project. Ninety-seven per cent of Northern Ireland's land mass is within 7·5 kilometres of a designated site or priority habitat. Large pig and poultry farms are required to conform to additional requirements. However, previous ammonia standing advice was suspended by DAERA following concerns raised by the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP). In its place, NIEA has adopted an interim policy until the final policy is developed. However, that has not provided the certainty or clarity that decision-makers need. The reality of the issue is that, for a farmer, bringing an application could involve costs of between £10,000 and £30,000. With uncertainty and no clarity, such a spend is, in itself, a huge gamble on the part of the farm business. It has been well recognised that there have been considerable delays and uncertainty in the past seven years or so around agricultural planning applications. The Department's start-stop approach to ammonia advice has not just been frustrating for farmers but deeply disruptive to those with clear and legitimate aspirations to upgrade or invest in new agricultural buildings. Between 19 December 2023 and 31 May 2024, NIEA responded to 48 agriculture-related cases under its interim ammonia policy. Of those 48, six raised no air quality concerns, seven raised air quality concerns, and only four were supported by the Department. In the remaining 17 cases, further information has been requested.

I know that the Minister has accepted that a backlog of cases has accumulated since November last year, but we need evidence of a sustained effort to deal with those cases for the benefit of all involved. It is alarming that, out of 48 relevant planning cases dealt with by NIEA between December and the end of May this year, only four have been given the green light.

Farmers find themselves in an almost impossible position: targets are being placed upon them while they struggle to remain competitive. The Department should therefore step up and assist them, either through funding or a workable, pragmatic and clear policy. Take, for example, a pig unit built in the 1980s, which would not have been subject to current environmental regulation. A farmer may want to invest to improve that, but he is faced with a gamble in the planning system and a lack of funding to drive innovation. Even setting aside the contradiction in how the current policy undermines the transition to net zero, it is clear that complexity and delays in securing planning permission for new buildings and technologies degrade the ability of our farm businesses and agri-food firms to compete at a time of great volatility and high-input costs. Furthermore, we all want to see health and safety improvement in agriculture and on farms. Yet, too often, those aims are stifled by the gridlock around ammonia. In addition to that, there are concerns about what the replacement policy from the Department will be. That pig farmer's proposal may improve his emissions by 50%, which would be a significant betterment. However, the current process impacts all farm development, including the replacement of existing livestock and poultry sheds, which are effectively treated by the Shared Environmental Service (SES) and NIEA as new developments. Even where improvements can be demonstrated, NIEA can still recommend refusal, because it does not differentiate between new and replacement buildings in its approach. That means that farmers continue to use older, out-of-date buildings. This does not help farmers to tackle environmental issues. Will the new policy take betterment into account? Will it recognise that economic sustainability means that environmental targets are best achieved as a journey? Where else is the incentive to move? The other concern is that the policy will be so restrictive as to indirectly result in a reduction in herd sizes to meet targets, rather than that happening through innovation. Although not explicitly mandating herd reductions, an overly restrictive policy can make that the only alternative. I hope that that is not the path that the Minister is considering. I hope that he will instead look at encouraging our farmers to adopt innovation and betterment. That is the only way to keep our sector competitive and economically sustainable. Such concerns are borne out of a lack of engagement by the Department with the Ulster Farmers' Union (UFU) on new protocols despite consistent and repeated offers from the sector. Last year, DAERA consulted on a draft ammonia strategy, focusing on a range of measures that could be adopted on-farm to reduce emissions. That was underpinned by the following ambitions: reduce the total Northern Ireland agricultural ammonia emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels; and reduce ammonia at internationally designated sites by 40% from 2020 levels. Last autumn, DAERA launched a survey to harness attitudes to investment among farmers and stakeholders. The Department is developing a capital investment measure under the new programme of farm support and development that, it claims, will provide financial support to help primary producers in the agricultural and horticultural sectors. Yet, since the Department and the Minister have not taken up the opportunity to discuss those proposals with the most affected and those who would be required to abide by them — the primary stakeholders — no one is any clearer on what the direction of travel is. It is important to strike a fair balance between improving farm performance and improving environmental performance. Can the Minister confirm when he intends to bring forward updated air quality standing advice? Given that equality screening was lacking in the original decision to suspend the standing advice, will he ensure that that is not repeated? Will he consult the UFU on his plans? Perhaps the Minister could also look at other jurisdictions in the UK with similar stringent ammonia restrictions. In England, for example, consideration has been given to how permitted developments could be extended to support investment. I encourage the Minister to speak to his counterpart in the Department for Infrastructure. I ask that he provides clarity and certainty to this hugely important sector. Help it to help him achieve the targets.

It is a fine balance between economic and environmental sustainability, and, at this time, it is simply unfair to expect farm businesses to make informed decisions where that clarity does not exist.

1,454 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 10:42 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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