DUP will oppose carbon audit penalties on farmers – McIlveen

DUP Agriculture spokesperson Michelle McIlveen MLA has confirmed her party will oppose Andrew Muir's plans to make participation in the Carbon Footprinting Project a condition of the Farm Sustainability Payment, as the regulations come before the Assembly's Agriculture Committee.

Miss McIlveen said: "Nobody in farming is arguing against looking after the environment. Our farmers have been doing that for generations.

"This project began as a voluntary, industry-led initiative to give farmers a useful tool. The Minister has now taken that tool and turned it into a stick.

"This is a penalty dressed up as progress. Any farm business that hasn't registered and completed training by May 2029 will lose 10% of its payment. That rises to 15% the following year and stays at 15% until they comply. For family farms already operating on tight margins, that is a serious hit,” she stated.

"This is one more hoop on top of the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme and the Bovine Genetics Project. Every new condition means more compulsory training, more time away from the farm and more risk of being caught out on a technicality.

"The Climate Change Act requires carbon audits to be offered and fully funded. It does not require the Minister to cut the payments of farmers who don't take part.

"Nor is the money there. The project needs £15.5 million over four years, yet only £1.72 million has been allocated this year, with no multi-year budget in place. The Minister is threatening to cut farmers' payments over a project he hasn't even funded.

"Farmers also need confidence that a single calculator will give them full credit for their hedgerows, their grassland and the carbon they already capture. That confidence has not yet been earned,” added Ms McIlveen.

"The Department claims these regulations aren't controversial. Farmers would disagree.

"Compulsion is the wrong instinct. Voluntary participation, properly supported, will deliver far more buy-in than threats to cut payments.

"We will not support these regulations as drafted. Northern Ireland's farmers feed this country. They deserve a partner in the Department, not a policeman, and I urge the Minister to think again."