The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) is “not ruling out legal action” in relation to new proposals contained in Northern Ireland’s Nutrient Action Programme (NAP).
The Northern Ireland Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir, launched a public consultation on the NAP for 2026 to 2029, last month, which he said contains “additional measures which have been developed based on scientific research”.
The main additional measures include further restrictions on use of chemical phosphorus fertiliser and a farm phosphorus balance limit for more intensive farms.
According to Minister Muir research shows that around 62% of the high nutrient (phosphorus) levels in Northern Ireland’s waterbodies “come from agricultural sources”.
But the UFU believes these new proposals could “devastate local farming” – a view it conveyed during meetings this week with the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland (DAERA) and the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute in relation to the new NAP proposals.
According to William Irvine, president of the UFU, the organisation also told Minister Andrew Muir this week during a meeting that the consultation process around the new NAP proposals has been “deeply flawed”.
Irvine added: “There has been no economic impact assessment and no thorough engagement was carried out with stakeholders ahead of the consultation publication.
“The farming community acknowledge the need to improve water quality and we will play our part in a holistic approach, but we feel totally blindsided.
“Our members are frustrated that proposals of such magnitude have been brought forward without thorough analysis of the real-world impact on farm businesses, food production and rural livelihoods.”
NAP
According to the UFU the new NAP proposals could impact on thousands of farmers across Northern Ireland and result in many having to find more land for slurry spreading or cut their livestock numbers.
Irvine has said the next step for the UFU is to its next “course of action”.
““We are not ruling out legal action.
“Our members expect us to stand up for them, and that’s exactly what we intend to do,” Irvine added.
