The Sustainable Agricultural Programme will be of direct interest to every dairy farmer in NI

This input was made possible through DCNI’s active participation in the work of the Agricultural Policy Stakeholder Group.

Sometimes it’s easy to overlook the significance of support payments for the dairy sector.

Linked to this train of thought is the assumption that milk producers can generate a sustainable income on the back of a decent milk price alone. In reality, this isn’t the simple case. And the figures support this.

For the eight-year financial period, 2015/16 through to 2022/23, dairy farmers in Northern Ireland recorded an average Farm Business Income of £65,495.

Farm Business Income (FBI) represents the return to all unpaid labour (most often the farming family) and to their capital invested in the farm business which includes land and buildings. All told, it is not a large sum of money.

Dairy farming incomes are notoriously variable in nature. They are dependent on numerous factors, including the weather, fluctuation in input costs and the state of world commodity markets.

For example, the average value of the direct payments drawn down by dairy businesses in 2022-23 was worth £25,731.

Even in this exceptional year, when the average dairy Farm Business Income figure for Northern Ireland amounted to £122,861, this meant at £25,731, direct support payments amounted to 21 per cent of the total. Contrast this with 2023-24 the forecast FBI is down by 70 per cent to £36,671 demonstrating the critical role that direct payments will have played in supporting businesses through such a challenging year.

So, yes, farm support measures have been key in delivering financial sustainability for the dairy sector up to this point. And this principle will hold in equal measure as milk producers look to the future.

The Sustainable Agricultural Programme

The Sustainable Agricultural Programme (SAP) is the overarching programme within which the new farm support measures have been developed. Moreover, it will be further developed during the period ahead.

A number of crucially important points must be made from the outset. SAP will be of fundamental importance to every milk producer in Northern Ireland.

It breaks new ground in providing both direct support payments while also acting to deliver improved efficiency and environmental sustainability for all farming businesses. In other words, it represents a win-win scenario for all participating farmers.

Under the auspices of SAP, sustainability is a principle that relates to all the activities undertaken and goals achieved by a farming business: financial, environmental, conservation-focussed and community-related.

The programme also recognises the holistic nature of agriculture in Northern Ireland. Dairy farmers, for examples can have other enterprises on their farm: beef production being a case in point.

SAP will be characterised by four key drivers: the availability of a farm sustainability payment to strengthen business resilience; the importance of enhancing individual farms’ productivity; improving environmental sustainability within agriculture and facilitating the operation of effective and functioning supply chains within Northern Ireland’s farming and food industry.

And this work is already in transit. The Soil Nutrient Health Scheme (SNHS) which is the longest running measure within SAP is breaking new ground in determining the soil characteristics of every field in Northern Ireland while the Beef Carbon Reduction Scheme has been specifically designed to drive efficiency within the beef breeding and finishing sectors.

The coming months will see further momentum secured, where the evolution of SAP is concerned.

The range of schemes due to be rolled out in 2025 include: the Farm Sustainability Transition Payment; the Beef Carbon Reduction Scheme (Year 2); the Suckler Cow Scheme (Year 1); the Farming with Nature Transition Scheme; the Sustainable Farming Investment Scheme; the Farming for the Generations Scheme; the Protein Crops Scheme; the Farming for Sustainability: Knowledge Transfer Scheme; the Supporting Agri-Professionals Programme; the Farming for Carbon Programme; Zone 4 of SNHS; the start of data collection for the Carbon Footprinting Project and the commencement of the Bovine Genetics Project.

Significantly, most of these schemes and programmes will have a direct bearing on the future sustainability of Northern Ireland’s dairy farming sector.

The Farm Sustainability Transition Payment will be available in 2025 only: it will transition into the now fully defined’ ‘Farm Sustainability Payment’ the following year.

Worth noting in this context is the recent decision taken by the Stormont Executive to earmark farm support funding for 2025-26 and future years. This will help with longer-term planning of local farm support measures. Northern Ireland is currently unique within the UK in this regard.

Conditionality

Conditionality is a new principle that underpins the full availability of the new farm sustainability payment.

In essence it requires farm businesses to participate in the following programmes: SNHS, the Carbon Footprinting Project and compliance with new Farm Sustainability Standards. In addition, conditionality is likely to apply to the soon to be announced Bovine Genetics Project and for Nutrient Management Planning. All of these measures represent opportunities for dairy and other farmers to improve the efficiency and environmental sustainability of their businesses.

For example, SNHS is already delivering detailed soil quality data for every field that is farmed in Northern Ireland.

This information is laying the foundations for farmers to quickly produce effective and meaningful nutrient management programmes for their businesses.

Meanwhile, the carbon footprinting project will allow farmers to accurately calculate the carbon footprint of their whole farm businesses and help identify key areas for planning improvements.

Effective nutrient management allows famers to make optimal use of animal slurries, manures and chemical fertilisers while carbon footprint values can be compiled to determine the environmental sustainability of production agriculture as a whole.

Enhanced nutrient management is a ‘tick-box’ efficiency goal for all farms. And the carbon footprint calculations are of equal benefit. Production agriculture must be able to prove categorically that the industry is meeting its environmental sustainability targets into the future.

Peer learning

SAP will also deliver a series of new and exciting peer learning opportunities for farmers, many of which will be of specific interest to milk producers.

Effective knowledge transfer will be at the heart of these initiatives. These will include business sustainability groups, themed groups and supply chain-related initiatives.

All of these will be co-ordinated through CAFRE advisers and independent specialist contractors. Significantly, participation in groups will enable farmers to draw down certain payments linked to their active participation.

Change is positive

So, yes, fundamental change is already happening in the way that farm support is structured here in Northern Ireland. From a Dairy Council perspective we know through our sustainable dairy programmes that our local farmers readily embrace new technology and approaches to drive improvements in their businesses with change often seen more as an opportunity than a threat.

The full range of schemes that make-up the new SAP is a good news story for local agriculture given that milk producers and other farmers will continue to be supported in a journey to improve the efficiency and environmental sustainability of their businesses. It’s a process that represents a win-win scenario for everyone involved.