NEWS

Change to wet weather legislation
By Steven Moore

A change in legislation that will give DARD the power to over-ride environmental concerns to help farmers being hindered by poor weather conditions has been approved by MLAs. The change, when triggered, will allow land-owners to take heavy machinery across water-logged ground. It is being rushed through in case it needs to be brought into operation this year to help farmers to get slurry down ahead of the closed period. The change in the rules will permit the Department of Agriculture to introduce a temporary exception of up to two months - with it possible to extend this period by up to a further two months. Farmers will still not, however, be able to spread slurry between October 15 and January 31 - with MLAs told there was no prospect of a repeat of the temporary suspension of the closed period seen last year. DARD was asked to permit slurry spreading delayed by the foul weather last winter but hadn't then the power to do so. As a consequence, this new clause is to be included in the Common Agricultural policy Single Payment and Support Schemes (Cross Compliance) (Amendment) regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009. For it to come into play, however, the whole of Northern Ireland will have to be deemed as having been affected by extreme weather, Principal Officer Valerie Bell told the Stormont Agriculture Committee on Tuesday. A case will also have to be made that the economic needs of the industry were more pressing than the environmental damage that could be potentially caused, she said. It was also important to note that farmers who made use of such a relaxation would have to restore any land damaged to its previous condition, she said.

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September 3rd 2009
August 27th 2009