Debate contribution: The draft Farming with Nature Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025
Debate contribution by Mr Robbie Butler on .
- MLA
- Mr Robbie Butler
- Party at the time
- Ulster Unionist Party
- Date
- 19 May 2025
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Executive Committee Business
- Heading
- The draft Farming with Nature Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 4968882
Read the official Assembly record
Text
The Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs first considered the SL1 for these draft regulations at its meeting on 10 April 2025. The Committee heard from the officials that DAERA intended to make a statutory rule to introduce the Farming with Nature Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025 to provide the legal powers to implement the Farming with Nature package as part of the continued roll-out of the sustainable agriculture programme. The Committee heard that the SR would be laid before the Assembly under the draft affirmative procedure, and that the Farming with Nature package will replace the current environmental farming scheme. The Committee was advised that the new, simpler scheme would be launched in three phases, starting in 2025, and that, as an annual scheme, it will have a cap, unlike the former environmental farming scheme (EFS), which was over a five-year period. Phase 1 is the Farming with Nature transition scheme, phase 2 is the Farming with Nature landscape projects and phase 3 is the Farming with Nature priority habitats. The Committee had a number of queries for officials. It asked about the key differences between the previous and new schemes. It also asked about the five aspects of phase 1 and was advised that a farmer can select the ones most suitable to the farm business as opposed to all five. Furthermore, the Committee asked about the range of stakeholders involved in the co-design, had queries about the voluntary nature of the scheme and asked whether the minimum of three qualifying hectares still applied. The Committee then agreed to write to the Department for clarification on when it was first considered that the Farming with Nature scheme was required to replace the EFS and when work commenced on that scheme, whether the Minister has powers to move funds between the relevant schemes under the Farm Sustainability (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025, and whether it is the intention that the voluntary element of the scheme will be removed during the course of the mandate. The Committee was due to consider the draft SR at its meeting on 10 April, but the session was postponed after a drafting issue was identified by the Examiner of Statutory Rules (ESR). However, the Committee considered the response that it received from DAERA to its queries on that date. The Department's response stated that, since the outset of the development of a farm policy in 2018 to replace the EU-funded CAP, it has been the intention that environmental farming schemes would form part of a farm support package, and that it was formally named as the Farming with Nature package in 2021. Article 13 of the Farm Sustainability (Transitional Provisions) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025 provides the powers to move funds between the relevant schemes. There have been no discussions to date on removing the voluntary element of the scheme. Perhaps the Minister will speak to that. At its meeting on 8 May, the Committee considered the final draft SR and heard from officials that, as highlighted by the ESR, the amendments were on technical issues and typos and tightened up the SR, making it more readable and understandable. There were no further queries for the officials, and members agreed to support the SR as drafted pending the ESR's report. That report was issued on Friday, and the draft SR was not drawn to the Assembly's special attention. The Committee agreed to recommend that the Farming with Nature Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025 be affirmed and made by the Assembly.
585 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Assessment
Jev’s structured answers met the documented threshold for “not flagged”.
- Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.02 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
- None of the five culture-war criteria was met (each was below 0.60).
- Assessed as legitimate policy scrutiny (0.72).
- No identity-based framing was identified (1.00).
- The overall probability was at or below the not-flagging threshold.
This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.
Jev’s structured answers
| Question | Probability | Met? |
|---|---|---|
| Identity framing | 0.02 | No |
| Sectarian or communal antagonism | 0.01 | No |
| Cultural grievance politics | 0.01 | No |
| Dog-whistle messaging | 0.01 | No |
| Controversy escalation | 0.02 | No |
| Legitimate policy scrutiny | 0.72 | Yes |
| Overall judgement | 0.02 | At or below not-flagging threshold |
| Option | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-based framing (chosen) | 1.00 |
| Reports or questions it | 0.00 |
| Criticises or condemns it | 0.00 |
| Adopts it | 0.00 |
| Subject | Probability |
|---|---|
| No identity-related subject | 1.00 |
| Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials | 0.00 |
| Parades, bonfires and commemorations | 0.00 |
| Irish language, Ulster-Scots and language policy | 0.00 |
| Sport (including the GAA), the arts and cultural bodies | 0.00 |
Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:38 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.
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