UFU president Ivor Ferguson speaking to members in Limavady on Monday evening.
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A debate is developing within the UFU over what level of area-based payment should be retained in a new NI agricultural policy.
“We haven’t put a figure on it. We will take direction from our farmers, but the sooner we do that the better,” UFU president Ivor Ferguson said at a meeting in Limavady.
“We need some base level payment – we just can’t run away from an area-based payment. In a lot of cases, like on suckler farms, the basic payment makes up the total income of the farm,” he added.
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Back in 2018, DAERA floated the idea of a basic farm resilience payment that would be at a much lower level than current rates per ha, but still enough to incentivise farmers to meet future baseline environmental standards while providing a guaranteed level of income.
However, Ferguson pointed out that senior Conservative politicians, such as Michael Gove, have indicated that it could be difficult to get the British Treasury to put up funding for area-based payments.
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A debate is developing within the UFU over what level of area-based payment should be retained in a new NI agricultural policy.
“We haven’t put a figure on it. We will take direction from our farmers, but the sooner we do that the better,” UFU president Ivor Ferguson said at a meeting in Limavady.
“We need some base level payment – we just can’t run away from an area-based payment. In a lot of cases, like on suckler farms, the basic payment makes up the total income of the farm,” he added.
Back in 2018, DAERA floated the idea of a basic farm resilience payment that would be at a much lower level than current rates per ha, but still enough to incentivise farmers to meet future baseline environmental standards while providing a guaranteed level of income.
However, Ferguson pointed out that senior Conservative politicians, such as Michael Gove, have indicated that it could be difficult to get the British Treasury to put up funding for area-based payments.
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