Debate contribution: Farmers' Basic Payment Scheme

Debate contribution by Mr Andrew Muir on 7 October 2024.

MLA

Mr Andrew Muir

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

7 October 2024

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Farmers' Basic Payment Scheme

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4579775

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you very much, Madam Principal Deputy Speaker. Before I start, I welcome Diana to the House and congratulate her on an excellent maiden speech. It is great to have you here. I look forward to working with you and with the new Chair of the Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. Robbie follows in the footsteps of Tom, who did an excellent job. You will keep me on my toes.

I am looking forward to that and that is your job. I have a couple of things to say. First, I thank Members for bringing this important issue to the Floor for discussion. Hopefully, we can have unity and purpose around it. Both amendments have merit, which has been debated. The SDLP amendment references the importance of pillar 2. The DUP amendment references the importance of earmarked funding and other matters. Both amendments have strengths. Hopefully, from today, we can come together as one around what is a really important issue. As Minister, I fully recognise the economic and environmental significance of the agriculture industry in Northern Ireland. As custodians of the countryside, our farm families work hard to produce quality food. What farmers produce is literally life-giving in terms of sustenance to millions of people and life-affirming through the sector's value to communities, businesses, our environment and, indeed, the very social fabric of everyday life in Northern Ireland. I wholeheartedly agree that it is vital that our local farm businesses and rural communities are supported. I highlight the fact that the agriculture sector in Northern Ireland makes a significant contribution to UK food security. Although we have a population of nearly two million, Northern Ireland produces enough protein for 10 million people, and a large portion of that is supplied to other parts of the UK. However, our environment carries the impact of that agricultural production, particularly through the excess nutrients that have caused deterioration in water quality, biodiversity and our valuable habitats. The blue-green algae crisis in Lough Neagh, which is impacting on society and the economy, is a stark example of that. I must therefore stress at the outset that we are on a journey of change. I have set out my priorities. We have many environmental challenges. We need to support sustainable, resilient and productive agri-food and fishing sectors. I recognise the significant investment in rural communities and businesses and the wider economy that was derived from the single farm payment under the EU common agricultural policy, which has been outlined. I agree that single farm payments were critical in supporting farms, particularly small family farms, to be financially viable and more environmentally sustainable. I acknowledge that the closure of the 2014-2022 rural development programme is of concern to our rural communities. I am considering the future of rural policy post EU exit. I have recently established a new rural policy unit, which I met today. It will focus on reviewing and evaluating previous rural policy initiatives and engaging with other Northern Ireland Civil Service Departments, councils, public authorities and stakeholders to inform collaborative policy proposals that are mindful of the changed rural landscape and the current and future needs of rural communities. I will meet some of those practitioners tomorrow. As Members highlighted, we do not have confirmation of funding for future agricultural support beyond March next year. I share the concerns that were expressed about the significant uncertainty that is facing our farming community. I stress that the future provision of funding for agriculture, agri-environment and wider rural support is a matter for the UK Government. We must be able justify to Treasury that all future agricultural support payments deliver value for money. It is my view that maintaining the status quo for any farm business is no longer a viable option. Change is needed, but I am determined that we do that together. Through my Department's new farm support and development programme, I am seeking to transition to a more sustainable farming sector by implementing policies and strategies that benefit our climate and environment whilst, very importantly, supporting our economically and socially significant agriculture sector.

Importantly, the programme is being co-designed in consultation with the Northern Ireland agricultural industry and other key stakeholders to target farm support so that it meets the bespoke needs of Northern Ireland. That partnership approach is critical to our collective success in tackling the challenges and seizing the opportunities that lie ahead.

My ambition is high. Great work has already been done in the agriculture sector, and it has to be built on. Positive solutions are required to deliver at pace, and there is much for us all to do. The farm support and development programme is made up of a range of schemes and actions, some of which, such as the groundbreaking soil nutrient health scheme, are already seen as exemplars by my counterparts in the rest of the UK and Ireland. The schemes that will be introduced through the programme will be essential levers in contributing to Northern Ireland's statutory obligations under the Climate Change Act and achieving a genuinely just transition. I firmly believe that we can strike a balance that allows our agriculture industry to thrive and be sustainable while protecting our environment.

I agree: it is about carbon leakage, which was debated when the legislation was being passed. We need to be conscious of that. We cannot, essentially, move the problem around; we need to address it, here and now. That is why I am very keen that the future farm support and development programme addresses the concerns that you raised. It is a legitimate issue to have raised. The delivery of the farm support and development programme will be essential to addressing ammonia- and phosphorous-related issues and incentivising and enabling actions to ensure environmental sustainability in Northern Ireland by contributing to water and air quality, soil health and biodiversity. Although agriculture has partially contributed to nutrient loading in Lough Neagh over the past century and more, today's farmers should not be blamed for the actions of previous generations. Rather than engaging in a blame game, we should focus on solutions and work together with others. We should also be conscious of the fact that the nutrient overloading was from not just agriculture but waste water infrastructure, septic tanks and industry. Everyone needs to play their part, which means that we need to face up to issues such as waste water infrastructure, which is having an impact on our environment, economic development and housebuilding. I am not into a blame game; I am into working with people in that regard. We have be fair in all that we do. The farm support and development programme will also deliver on my priority of supporting sustainable, resilient and productive agri-food and fishing sectors by securing sustainable productivity in Northern Ireland agriculture and assisting the development of effective functioning supply chains, ensuring food security and high standards of disease control and public and animal health. As part of the programme, it is planned that the current basic payment scheme will be replaced by a farm sustainability transition payment next year, with the full farm sustainability payment's coming into operation in 2026. As was announced in March 2022 by my predecessor, the new farm sustainability payment will provide a balance between providing a safety net, which will help a farm business to withstand shocks that are beyond its ability to manage effectively, and encouraging farm businesses to be sustainable, efficient, competitive and able to manage risk proactively. Over time, the funding allocated to the farm sustainability payment will reduce to enable funding to be diverted to other elements of the farm support and development programme to encourage and support changes in behaviour and deliver better outcomes across a range of defined metrics. The College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) will provide training to farm business to help them to navigate that period of change. The programme is supported by a full programme of communications to inform and motivate stakeholders to participate and establish the understanding required to support the necessary behavioural and attitudinal change. Any reduction in the future earmarked budget would have extremely adverse impacts for not only farm businesses but the successful delivery of the programme. I note that Members have called on me to urgently press the UK Government to set out what replacement funds will be put in place to support our farmers and the wider agriculture sector. Be assured that I have written to the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs on a number of occasions expressing my concerns about the future of the earmarked agriculture budget. Given Northern Ireland's important role in food security, I consider that it is fair and reasonable that there should be adequate funding to support us to deliver environmental sustainability and food security. I stressed to him that any future settlement should, as an absolute minimum, maintain the current Budget allocation, uplifted for inflation, to allow for delivery of my Department's policy objectives and ambitions. It is essential that the competitive position of our farmers is at least equivalent to that which is being provided to EU farmers and, most particularly, to those elsewhere on the island of Ireland. Consequently, the real value of our allocation must, at the minimum, be maintained in real terms. I note that a disparity is starting to appear between North and South in that. That became very clear last week with the Irish Budget. Our position is clear and strong, and I make it abundantly clear to the Secretary of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Most recently we discussed this in person at the Inter-Ministerial Group for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which met in London on 16 September. Following that meeting, I wrote again to stress the importance of receiving early clarity on future earmarked agricultural support funding for next year and beyond. In my letter, I highlighted the significant contribution that the agriculture sector in Northern Ireland makes to UK food security. I have also recently stressed to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and DEFRA the need for funding decisions to reflect the importance of a just transition and also made the case that there should be a separate, specific and additional capital fund to support just transition in agriculture. We need to ensure that the work that we carry out to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reach net zero will be fair and will support people on the journey through a just transition. That is why we need to provide those incentives and support. Funding for the just transition fund for agriculture will need to be considered in the context of budgetary pressures and priorities across the Northern Ireland Executive. That is why I made the case to DEFRA. My Department is engaging with the Department of Finance on raising these issues with the Treasury as part of broader budgetary processes. It is fair to say that there is regular engagement, informally and formally, between me and the Finance Minister. I thank Members for bringing the motion and for the interesting and challenging discussion that the debate has stimulated. I will endeavour to keep Members informed of the outcome of the future earmarked Budget allocation. I have a couple of minutes, so I will deal with queries that were raised. It is clear that this issue of the earmarked funding is primarily the responsibility of DEFRA and Treasury, and it is important that we, as a House, speak together, united on this point. It is absolutely critical that we send the message about the importance of the funding for Northern Ireland. We are facing a cliff edge at the end of March next year and concern arises from that. Also, there is concern at the underspend by DEFRA. That is regularly reported in the farming press and also on 'Farming Today' on BBC Radio 4. We should not feel the consequence of that money being passed back to Treasury and surrendered. As Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for Northern Ireland, I send a very clear message, and that is "No surrender" from us of money back to the Treasury. Just because others have done that does not mean that we should be punished as a result. A couple of other issues were raised. I met the sheep industry task force last week about support for sheep farming, and I have tasked officials to engage with them around what further support we can provide to that sector. There are challenges in that, but we are going to look it and work in a process of co-design on that. We are taking action on TB. I am not kicking any cans down the road — I do not believe that we should be treating waste like that: we need to deal with it correctly. We need to deal with TB, and that is why Brian Dooher is looking at that issue. I have tasked him to bring recommendations to me in the next couple of weeks. People will know that the Office of Environmental Protection has today published a report on ammonia. Whatever I do has to be within the law. I have had a number of stakeholder engagements on ammonia, and I am holding another one later this month. I am committed to working with people on these issues. The most fundamental thing that I can say is that we need the funding so that we can support farmers to deliver the changes that we require in our society and also to support food security across the UK.

2,276 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:23 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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