Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician Lord Tom Elliott has said that the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) approach through the Nutrient Action Programme (NAP) proposals to farmers appears an “out and out challenge to their way of life and livelihood”.
Earlier this month, Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland, Andrew Muir launched a public consultation on the NAP for 2026 to 2029, 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.
Lord Tom Elliott said: “We are aware that in many areas of life, including agriculture much action is required to improve the environment.
“I have always encouraged the minister to do that in cooperation with the farming sector, as opposed to direct confrontation.
“The farming community have already made significant progress towards reduction of nutrient and other positive environmental matters. However, they need the minister and DAERA to work with them as opposed to resistance of farmers.
“I agree with Dr. Sinclair Mayne, who is former CEO [chief executive] of the Agri Food and Biosciences Institute [AFBI] and former departmental scientific adviser for the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development that it is essential that proposed new measures are based on robust science, based on peer-reviewed scientific papers, rather than subjective assessment,” Lord Elliott added.
The UUP chairperson stressed that this was the basis for the first action programme agreed with the European Commission in 2007 and subsequent reviews.
Elliott claimed that Dr. Mayne has detailed a number of areas where DAERA has not presented the appropriate scientific evidence base for the proposals.
“DAERA [has] done little to even attempt to persuade farmers of the merits of these most recent proposals; they seem more intent on pushing the farming community beyond what it can achieve, with little cooperation or working together,” he continued.
“I repeat my earlier calls, before its too late for the minister to work with the farming sector, as opposed to him being seen by many farmers as an enemy to their way of life and someone who seems to many as set on destruction of the agricultural industry in Northern Ireland.
“The farming sector has so much to offer the entire society, it is vital that the DAERA and the agricultural community work together.”
