Support scheme for NW flooding victims

The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) Minister Edwin Poots announced a £3.45million support scheme for flooding victims on Thursday.

UFU president Victor Chestnutt said: “We’re pleased that our farmers in the North West area stretching from Strabane to Drumahoe (commonly known as the Glenelly floods, also affecting the Owenkillew Valley), who experienced financial loss and extreme destruction to their farmland, will finally get the financial support they need. Minister Poots, Declan McAleer and I travelled to the North West in March to speak to farmers who were directly impacted, and we witnessed first-hand the ongoing devastation to their farm businesses because of the severe weather event almost four years ago.

“The UFU has lobbied continuously and with great effort to get support secured for those farmers who completed majeure forms. While the emotional distress of the past number of years cannot be undone, we hope that the funding provides relief after experiencing such financial loss for so long and that the farming families affected can now move forward.

“We thank Minister Poots for listening to our concerns and for taking the time to visit our farmers’ who were affected. We now ask that the funding gets rolled out as soon as possible so they can benefit.”

Announcing the scheme which will open in the summer, Minister Poots said: “In March, I visited the Glenelly area and heard directly from some of the farmers who experienced the flooding in 2017. They talked about the financial loss they incurred, the challenges faced restoring land back to productivity and the negative impact this unique severe weather event had on them both emotionally and mentally. Seeing one’s business washed away in the blink of an eye has caused immense distress to this community.

“The sustainability of their farm businesses, already operating in challenging environmental and market conditions, was clearly and severely impacted and therefore I am pleased to announce a ‘one off’ payment of almost £3.5million in assistance to these farmers, as a contribution towards the losses experienced in 2017.”

Farm businesses that made a Force Majeure application following the flooding in 2017 are eligible to apply for the scheme, which is capped at £106,000 per farm business.

The Minister concluded: “I recognise the hardship incurred by the farming and wider rural communities following the flooding in August 2017.

“While this fund will not undo the emotional and mental challenges they have faced, I do hope it goes some way to easing the financial losses they have suffered.”

More information about the Scheme will be published on the DAERA website before it opens.