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DAERA Minister Edwin Poots has tried to ease concerns among local farmers about the establishment of an independent environmental protection agency in NI.
“An independent agency is not something to be hugely afraid of. It’s the policies and regulations that we put in place in the first place that the independent agency will be overseeing,” Minister Poots told reporters on Tuesday.
The comments were made after the NI Assembly passed a motion on Monday evening to declare a “climate emergency” and back the establishment of an independent environmental protection agency for NI within a year.
Speaking at an event in Ballymena Mart, Minister Poots suggested that the new body would not differ significantly from the existing NI Environment Agency (NIEA), which is part of DAERA.
“I look at the independent agency in Scotland and look at NIEA here and I don’t see an awful lot of difference to be perfectly honest,” he said.
The debate in Stormont on Monday evening focused on delivering environmental commitments that were agreed by political parties in the New Decade, New Approach deal.
This includes a Climate Change Act for NI to legally underpin new environmental targets. An independent environmental protection agency would ensure the targets are met.
During the debate, Minister Poots said that any targets on greenhouse gas emissions must recognise that agriculture in NI is more livestock-based than other parts of the UK.
Agriculture accounts for 27% of greenhouse gas emissions in NI, whereas the sector is responsible for only 10% of emissions across the UK.
“That, however, reflects the fact that we produce 10% of the UK’s food, so our agri-food footprint is bound to be higher, and it is recognised that it is more challenging to cut emissions in that area,” Minister Poots told MLAs.
The DUP politician said legislation should reflect agriculture’s ability to capture carbon from the atmosphere and suggested that emissions targets should not lead to a reduction in agricultural output in NI.
“We would simply export our emissions overseas to those who were less committed to addressing the issue, but that does not mean that we can sit back and do nothing,” he said.
New support payments for NI farmers could be used to improve livestock genetics, DAERA Minister Edwin Poots has suggested.
Since taking office last month, the DUP politician has expressed an interest in coupled support schemes (headage payments) for suckler cows and breeding ewes.
“We are going to look at other places to see how they do things and look at how we did things historically in NI,” he told reporters in Ballymena.
Giving an example of potential requirements for a future coupled scheme, the Lagan Valley MLA said that payments could be used for “encouraging farmers to use quality bulls and quality sires”.
This could fit in with a livestock genetics database for NI which was originally proposed in the Going for Growth report in 2013 and remains under development by various industry bodies.
The Minister was non-committal on a timeline for the roll-out of coupled payments but said that he wanted changes to the current payment regime to start in 2021. “That will be what I am hoping for,” he said.
Slurry ban
During the briefing with journalists, Minister Poots also reiterated his desire to cut “red tape and regulation” for NI farmers. This includes a review into slurry spreading restrictions with a view to moving away from a calendar-based closed period.
“I want to look at if we can do it on a more meteorological basis than upon a date basis because we have a very fluctuating weather system here in NI.
“I want to do a course of work so that we are in a position next year to have a more flexible regime,” Minister Poots said.
He was also critical of both the four-residencies rule and 30-month age limit for cattle and stated that he would be raising his views with representatives from local meat factories this week. “I don’t think it has any standing. I will be challenging them on that” he said.
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