Representatives from the beef and sheep sector in NI have published their plan for future agricultural support, proposing that area-based payments are retained and topped up with coupled payments, agri environment schemes and money for disadvantaged areas.

Commissioned by the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU), the NI Meat Exporters’ Association (NIMEA) and the Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC), and produced by consultants at the Leicestershire based Andersons Centre, the report runs to 138 pages.

Vision

It explores why numbers of suckler cows and breeding ewes have declined in recent years and sets out a vision for a competitive and increasingly sustainable sector by 2027.

Core to the plan is a new environment and productivity support (EPS) payment with four compulsory measures to obtain all the money.

The first compulsory measure is to meet a minimum stocking rate, set at over 0.2 livestock units per hectare (LU/ha) on rough grazing, greater than 0.7 LU/ha on less favoured area (LFA) pasture, and over 1.3 LU/ha on the lowland.

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The core element of the proposals is a new Environment and Productivity Support payment.