Dear Sir,

Once again, congratulations to the IFJ and LMC for hosting the NI Spring Conference.

As expected from past years, both the content and analysis were very detailed, which included some interesting evaluations.

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Along with many financial updates and predictions, my take-home messages included the following.

On the UK policy overview, the point was made that environmental rhetoric was toned down, as it was now less politically ‘fashionable’, although it is still a policy driver, as we are well aware, in some regions.

When detailing NI’s future support and the areas of benefit to our climate and environment, it became very clear to me that a lot of the future support measures are centred around our flawed Climate Change Act, which most of our politicians now realise is aspirational.

Advantage

Labour on farms within different sectors was covered within the presentation, however it is worth noting that farms in the Republic of Ireland have a potential competitive advantage over NI farms currently, as they are able, for example, to employ Filipino workers.

Schemes

Future environmental schemes were mentioned but, in reality, here in NI it’s simply unjust that the generational expertise of farmers regarding the management of designated land is being ignored whilst nonsensical prescribed management is being imposed to the detriment of such areas.

Livestock emissions were also covered along with potential ways to drive on-farm reductions.

As many farmers are now aware, we appear to be responsible for the global woes as far as carbon dioxide production is concerned, yet there is no mention of the fact that over the last 50 years, global cattle numbers have risen by 50% while aviation fuel usage has risen by 700%.

Taking this into account, it is very understandable why the UFU has adopted the stance that no farmer should be compelled to complete an individual carbon audit.

Ian Buchanan, Dungiven