Current problems in agriculture

Speech by David Ford delivered to Transitional Assembly, Stormont on Mon 8th Jan 2007

I welcome the opportunity for the Assembly to debate this topic and thank Mr Elliott and Mr Bradley for introducing the motion. I start by declaring my second-hand interest - as my entry in the register of Members' interests shows, my wife has an interest in matters agricultural, and I do declare that I got my wellies dirty before I came here this morning.

I wish to look at one particular aspect of the way in which bureaucracy has operated and at one of the few successes that the former Assembly could record. Back in the early part of 2002 the Committee for the Environment had to consider slurry and silage effluent storage regulations. Madam Speaker, I trust that I have not offended your sensibilities by referring to them. When the DOE sent civil servants to that Committee - and I am sure the Minister at the time will recall exactly how his officers carried out their functions - it was clear that there was no understanding of the needs of Northern Ireland's farmers.

All that the DOE did was to change a few words here and there in the regulations that had been introduced in England and Wales some years earlier to make them fit for Northern Ireland - then it imposed them on us. I remember meetings at which members of the Committee for the Environment tried to question officials to find out what was what. I have no doubt that the Committee Chairperson, the Member for Mid Ulster Dr McCrea, has memories of the fight that he and I had with officials on that occasion.

The attitude of the DOE civil servants was that they knew what they wanted to do, and they did not care what anyone else thought. That led to huge problems in trying to persuade people about the realities of farming. For example, the DOE civil servants argued that between the year before the regulations were introduced in England and Wales and the following year, pollution incidents were cut by 50%.

I asked the officials whether they could explain how such an amazing change could happen, and also for the rainfall statistics for the two years in question, since most people know that problems with silage effluent are closely related to rainfall. However, they did not have any rainfall statistics. Since they were quoting statistics for overall pollution incidents, I asked whether they could give me a 10-year trend rather than just taking two random years, which might have illustrated how successful the regulations had been. The civil servants did not have those figures either.

I then asked the officials whether they were aware that farmers in England and Wales were able to get capital grants to install slurry stores and silage effluent run-offs at the time that the regulations were introduced there and which did not exist in Northern Ireland five years ago. They did not even know that grants were available at the time. However, they expected Northern Ireland farmers, at a time of huge financial difficulty, to fund the additional required storage. It was only through pressure being put on the DOE civil servants by the Committee for the Environment, coupled with lobbying by the Ulster Farmers' Union and others, that there was any change in the way in which those regulations were applied.

When some capital funding was obtained - inadequate though it was - DARD went ahead and gold-plated the storage requirements so that all the extra funding that was given for capital grants was used up on that gold-plating. The two Departments responsible were totally inadequate in their understanding of the needs of the farmers for whom they sought to legislate.

DARD officials should take back responsibility for reflecting back to other Departments the needs of the agriculture industry and working farmers. They should not always assume that their job is to impose the wishes of other Departments on farmers, when those Departments have simply lifted regulations as they have been applied across the water but which do not apply in Northern Ireland. Sadly, that is one example of the many things that DARD officials have failed to do in liaising with other Departments. The key requirement of the Ulster Farmers' Union's five-point plan - the need for DARD to start to review its red tape - is absolutely correct. Until DARD examines what is necessary, appropriate and reasonable, we will not move forward.

P J Bradley referred to the issue of public procurement, and that is another area in which Northern Ireland has failed to make any of the changes that have been made in the Republic or across the water. Government spokesmen talk about the need to cut down on transport. The issue of food miles has suddenly become a major issue in the UK; however, in Northern Ireland, the response from DARD is doing nothing to encourage a reduction in food miles, which would benefit the environment by cutting down on unnecessary transport and assist agriculture and food processing, which remain, despite all the recent changes, vital sectors of our economy. Those industries have a future if DARD would only give them the support that they need.

Notwithstanding the issue of procurement, the Government have completely failed to act on the issue of energy. The Government recently produced a £59 million renewable energy fund, which, among other things, gives grants to individuals for micro-generation on their own houses. However, at the same time, the challenge fund that helped some farmers to develop biomass businesses with willow and miscanthus has ended. What worse example could there be of a lack of joined-up government when the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) is funding a set of grants for renewable energy while, at the same time, DARD is stopping funding for the production of the materials that produce renewable energy?

NIO Ministers have completely failed to take account of initiatives that are joined up, match one another, or have any real opportunity to give farmers the long-term security of income that they need and require - it has been about initiatives that look well.

DARD is not the worst Department when it comes to looking at the issues, although there may be people who believe that it is. In the previous Assembly, I was a member of the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee for the Environment, and DARD civil servants had a greater understanding of what needed to be done. However, at times there was an inability to reflect that understanding elsewhere, and DARD was unable to look at the overall needs of the industry with civil servants from other Departments.

Until there is some form of joined-up government in which OFMDFM works with DARD, DOE and DETI on issues such an energy and public procurement, there will be no prospect of giving farmers - on whom much of our economy, and all our rural economy, depends - the income and security they need. That will only happen when we have a working Assembly. Today's debate should reinforce the need for the Government and those parties that have the opportunity to put structures in place to do so now so that our farmers and everyone else will benefit.