UFU launches training courses

A training division has been established within the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) to allow members to receive 20% discount on farm-based training courses.

Four courses are being offered initially: PA1 safe use of pesticides, PA2 boom sprayer, PA6 handheld applicator and rodent control. Training will be offered in six locations across NI, namely Armagh, Dungannon, Limavady, Ballymoney, Banbridge and Enniskillen.

The courses will be coordinated by Countryside Services Ltd and delivered by Lantra approved instructors. Members can book and pay for courses on the UFU website or at local group offices.

TSE sampling could cost industry £143,000 per year

Proposals which could lead to increased fallen stock disposal charges for farmers are being opposed by the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU).

“Transferring the cost of TSE sampling to the industry would cost £6.50 for each fallen animal over 48 months of age. There are about 22,000 a year, which would mean transferring £143,000 of charges to industry,” outgoing UFU president Barclay Bell said last week.

The plans were published in a DAERA consultation last month and propose passing the cost of TSE sampling from Government to rendering companies, which would likely lead to disposal charge increases.

The UFU has said that current testing requirements for fallen stock are excessive and should only be required in cattle aged over 70 months, compared with 48 months at present. “Farmers should not be expected to pay for sampling at a level they believe is unnecessary,” Bell said.

Extension available for EFS

Farmers who cannot complete non-arable measures as part of the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS) wider level before the 1 June 2018 deadline can apply to DAERA for an extension.

“Extensions can only be given up to the 31 December 2018, so all work must be completed by this date,” a DAERA spokesperson said this week.

Scheme participants are required to claim for EFS measures in the 2018 Single Application Form before the 15 May deadline.

“You may need to manage your claim during the year by reducing it if you complete less than the claimed amount,” the DAERA spokesperson said.

If work has been delayed with wet weather, extensions can be applied for up to 1 June 2018 by emailing to efs@daera- ni.gov.uk or writing to DAERA CMU, Molesworth Place, Molesworth St, Cookstown, Co Tyrone, BT80 8NX.

The department has also announced that a second tranche of the wider level of EFS will open for applications in August.

Ferguson elected UFU president

Markethill farmer Ivor Ferguson was elected president of the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) at the organisation’s AGM in Antrim on Wednesday. Ferguson has sheep and arable enterprises on his farm in Co Armagh but was involved in pig farming for most of his farming career.

Bushmills beef, sheep and dairy farmer Victor Chestnutt was re-elected to serve a second two-year term as UFU deputy president.

Fermanagh suckler beef farmer David Brown took the other deputy president position seeing off three other candidates in the executive council member vote.

Clarification on new TB group

In an article on page 9 last week, it was stated that three individuals had been put forward for consideration by the Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) for a place on the new TB Eradication Partnership currently being established by DAERA.

To clarify, the three individuals were not formally put forward by the UFU for the two farming positions on the six-member body. Instead, the three people involved are all members of the UFU, and had sought, and received, assistance from the UFU in completing the application form. The same level of assistance was available to any UFU member who might have wanted to apply.

Entitlement trading window closing

The window for transferring Basic Payment entitlements for sale, gift or lease in the 2018 scheme year closes next Wednesday (2 May) at midnight.

The closing date for submitting Single Application Forms for area-based payments in 2018, without penalties applying, follows less than two weeks later at midnight on 15 May.

On Tuesday, the head of area-based schemes at DAERA, Jason Foy, said that 8,000 out of an expected 25,000 applications had been received so far.

“I would urge farmers to begin completing your online Single Application now as there may be additional actions you may need to take, and this will only become clear once you begin the application process,” Foy said.

Agri environment advisers join CAFRE

The agri-environment advisory service which was previously provided through DAERA’s Countryside Management Branch has been brought under the CAFRE advisory network as part of structural review of services in the department.

The new Knowledge Advisory Service was launched last week.

The department said that productivity and environmental sustainability of farms and food businesses will be the primary focus of the service.

European Commission considering three-crop rule

Further evidence has been submitted to the European Commission as part of a request to allow NI arable growers to be exempt from the three-crop rule in 2018.

DAERA originally submitted evidence to the Commission through Defra in London in mid-April.

“The Commission is actively considering the request and has asked the Department to provide further information in support of its application, which we have now supplied,” a DAERA spokesperson said on Tuesday.

As part of the greening payment, farmers with more than 30ha of arable land are required to grow at least three different crops. However, wet weather last autumn and this spring has delayed planting and growers are running out of cropping options.

Earlier this week, Defra Minister George Eustice wrote to the European Commission requesting an exemption to the three-crop rule for all four regions of the UK. In the Republic of Ireland, a derogation to the EU’s crop diversification requirement was agreed at a political level on 11 April.

Rural crime up in northwest

A red Honda 420cc quad bike was stolen from a farmyard in Magilligan, Co Derry, sometime between Wednesday and Thursday last week.

The incident follows reports of an attempted theft of a quad bike from a different farm in the same area a week earlier.

Witnesses

“Rural crime has increased recently, and Limavady Police are urging witnesses to come forward with any information they may have,” a PSNI post to social media this week read.