New farm standards replacing the old system of cross-compliance are due to come into effect as planned from 1 January 2026, after DAERA officials clarified some issues previously raised by MLAs on the Stormont Agriculture committee.

The Farm Sustainability Standards Regulations (NI) 2025 apply to all farm schemes going forward, with the 20 standards that exist under cross-compliance revised and amalgamated into seven new requirements. The new standards cover issues such as water pollution, protection of habitats, protection of landscape features and soils, animal health, animal welfare and livestock identification.

Following a briefing in October, members of the committee had raised a number of queries, including why a full human rights assessment had not been done, what powers were given to inspectors and what crops were eligible for the new Farm Sustainability Payment.

Responding last Thursday, Anna Campbell from DAERA said an assessment of the new regulations found no impact on human rights, while there has been no increase in the powers given to inspectors.

“This legislation re-enacts, without amendment, those [powers] already in place since 2015. The department does not have the authority to seize property. In cases where a business refuses to provide required evidence during an inspection, the department’s response remains limited to withholding payments,” said Campbell. The senior DAERA official also confirmed no change to the crops that qualify for farm payments.

While many of the key requirements within cross compliance have been carried forward into the new standards, there has been a change made to how penalties will be calculated, with a new penalty matrix in place. Also, the concept of negligent and intentional penalties is removed, with any breaches assessed on the severity of their impact.

According to Campbell, the department has “learned lessons” from cross compliance, which means breaches for the likes of non-compliance with animal identification will no longer attract a very high penalty. Instead, those that attract the highest penalties have been “carefully chosen to reflect the severity of damage caused to human and animal health and the environment,” she said.

The examples she quoted were when pollution leads to a fish kill or when animals are neglected and have to be put down.

For all farmers, where there is a first-time breach found at an inspection, they will be required to undergo mandatory online training before any farm payments are issued.

“Our absolute intention here is to make sure that someone who is breaching, understands why,” said Campbell.