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Two online petitions calling on DAERA to drop plans for a badger cull in NI have failed to gain much traction, despite being well promoted on social media. Set up on 4 August 2021 by the NI Badger Group, Ulster Wildlife and the Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (USPCA), the Ulster Wildlife petition had by the middle of this week received 3,904 signatures, with the USPCA version at 3,879. Once the petitions close, a de-duplification process will be done to see just how many individuals have actually signed up.
Farmers in NI have planted over 500km of new hedgerows since the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) was launched in 2017, Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots has said.
In a written Assembly answer, Minister Poots said 532,309m of new hedgerow were planted during the first four tranches of EFS.
For context, the total length of hedgerows laid under EFS is almost 50km longer than the island of Ireland.
“A further 47,199 m of hedges have been regenerated by laying and interplanting,” Minister Poots said in response to a question from West Tyrone MLA Declan McAleer.
A fifth tranche of EFS higher level was opened earlier this year and a new tranche of EFS wider level closes for applications on 10 September.
A sixth tranche for both Levels is planned for 2022.
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