Debate contribution: Agriculture Bill: Second Stage

Debate contribution by Mr Patsy McGlone on 3 December 2024.

MLA

Mr Patsy McGlone

Party at the time

Social Democratic and Labour Party

Date

3 December 2024

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Executive Committee Business

Heading

Agriculture Bill: Second Stage

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4690892

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht an Bille a thabhairt os ár gcomhair.

The SDLP welcomes the Second Stage of the Bill. I look forward to examining the Bill and its implications more closely during the Committee Stage, should it pass its Second Stage; hopefully, it will. However, it is somewhat disappointing that the Minister has been unable to introduce the comprehensive agriculture Bill that is required. A comprehensive agriculture Bill, unlike the one before us, would provide a clear purpose for future agricultural policy. It would set out clear objectives for the use of agricultural funding to guide policy decisions and is necessary to provide a strategic direction for agriculture here. I am sure that the Minister will respond later, so will he will introduce a domestic agriculture Bill before the end of the mandate? Both Scotland and Wales have already introduced that legislation, but we are still waiting. The Bill may be small, but it is not insignificant. It is largely technical legislation that allows for changes to be made to the funding provided by the Department to producer organisations for operational programmes. That funding is to become discretionary where previously, as long as the programmes met certain requirements, funding was mandatory. Producer organisations enable farmers and growers in a variety of sectors to strengthen their position in the supply chain and increase competitiveness. It is very important that we provide support to producer organisations to make sure that a fair price, in effect, goes to farmers, who are the ultimate producers. They play a very important role in promoting environmentally sound cultivation practices in production techniques and, indeed, climate change mitigation. This Bill introduces uncertainty over future funding for those organisations and, almost inevitably, cuts to the financial support available to them. It risks leaving producer organisations in the North at a disadvantage — I hope that the Minister will underpin that that will not be the case — particularly when they are in competition with organisations that are still in the EU. Inevitably, this is another consequence of Brexit. The financial support was previously provided from EU funding streams. As with other EU funds, the British Government have not properly replaced it. The British Government have, in effect, washed their hands of responsibility, and it is now up to the AERA Minister to find the required funding. The financial support for producer organisations will, in future, come from whatever level of budget the Minister can negotiate with his Executive colleagues from the block grant. Making that funding discretionary will mean that it will be entirely up to the Minister to decide which programmes are funded and which are not. It is not a particularly enviable position that the Minister has been placed in as a consequence, it has to be said, of Brexit. Under those circumstances, it is not difficult to understand the concerns of producer organisations about the level of future financial support, but not all producer organisations will be equally affected. As already referred to today, one group that will potentially be affected are mushroom growers, who are not eligible for land-based programmes such as the basic farm payment or the Department for the Economy's energy efficiency scheme. The mushroom industry has already felt the impact of Brexit with the restricted access to labour through the seasonal agricultural workers scheme. I am glad that the Minister announced today that support will continue, at least for the future, I hope, on a stable basis when it is required for the mushroom industry. The best place for that would be to incorporate it in a comprehensive agriculture Bill, and I hope that the Minister will clarify that we will get a comprehensive and embracing agriculture Bill for the North, similar to legislation that has been introduced elsewhere.

632 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:42 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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