NI budget will add further financial squeeze to agriculture

The Fermanagh representative said that the budget falls far short of what departments require to adequately function.

He continued: “The budget allocation to the Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs (DAERA) is no different in that it has suffered a significant reduction. Some aspects for the farming sector that will come under the spotlight in the near future due to the budget cuts are Bovine TB on farms, Climate Change and Agricultural support schemes.

“Although the Department of Agriculture have been testing and strategising with their attempts to reduce Bovine TB for decades, it’s not working. The current system is having a massive negative impact on the farming community with herds being wiped out, generations of dedicated breeding by farmers totally eliminated, the mental impact and stress that this is causing to individuals is generally unseen. A new and vigorous approach to dealing with Bovine TB is urgently required, departments here have delayed this for far too long, action needs to be taken now.

“In the past few years we have heard so much about Climate Change and the demands to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, however while it is a good soundbite, only a few people come up with practical solutions to resolve the issues.

“One industry leader, who is not involved in any way with agriculture recently said there are ways to pro-actively and positively deal with and manage greenhouse gas emission reduction, but it is not by killing half of the cattle in Northern Ireland, which would add to higher levels of agri-food imports from countries that have no interest or rules to reduce such emissions.

“On government support measures, while the support comes from the UK government we continue to follow the last EU approved model for NI, if we don’t have our own local Executive any changes that will be made to the system will be developed by the UK government. As we are all aware the types and systems of farming practices in England are in many cases very different to those in NI, therefore we could easily be subject to a support system that is much more sympathetic to the English farming and environmental system, but not NI.”