As the new legislative term approaches, pressure is growing to secure a new Nitrates’ Action Plan (NAP) for Northern Ireland that fully meets the needs of production agriculture.
Farmers for Action (FFA) has confirmed it wants take part in the meetings of the new NAP stakeholder group that has been established by Northern Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir.
FFA spokesperson, William Taylor, said: “The appointment of a truly independent chair of the new stakeholder forum is critically important.
“And this person must be totally acceptable to all the farm organisations represented on the new body.”
Specifically where Lough Neagh is concerned, the FFA representative indicated that a number of physical steps can be taken to address the challenge of the algal blooms that have again appeared on the body of water over recent weeks.
He explained: “These include the actual harvesting of the blooms and the physical sealing of the phosphate deposits that have accumulated on the bed of the lake.
“These approaches have been used where similar problems have arisen in other parts of the world.”
NI Agriculture Committee
Meanwhile, members of the Northern Ireland Agriculture Committee will hold their first meeting of the new Stormont Assembly term over the coming days
Chair of the committee, Robbie Butler MLA, foresees the coming weeks and months as being an extremely busy period for the grouping’s entire elected membership.
He told Agriland: “There are a number of priority challenges facing local agriculture at the present time. One of these is the development of an acceptable Nitrates Action Plan.
“It was obvious that Minister Andrew Muir failed to deliver such a solution prior to the summer break. He is now pushing forward with the new stakeholder forum that has been established.
“However, the members of the agriculture committee will be reaching out to all relevant stakeholder groupings in its own right with the aim of ensuring that we can help deliver the final nitrates solution that is required.
“Ensuring that our farming and food sectors can look forward to a sustainable future will be at the very heart of the new plan.”
Turning to the issue of inheritance tax, Butler confirmed that stakeholder bodies and elected representatives from the across the UK’s devolved regions are now fully in step where this issue is concerned.
He said: “At this stage, I think it is highly unlikely that the Chancellor of the Exchequer will totally reverse her decision to extend the footprint of inheritance to production agriculture.
“However, I feel strongly that it should be possible to secure Treasury recognition of the disproportionate impact the new inheritance tax measures will impose on family farm businesses, particularly here in Northern Ireland.
“And if we can secure changes to this extent, specifically regarding the implementation of the new measures, this is a halfway house that can be built on for the future.”
