The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland is reminding farmers and landowners of the need to control noxious weeds.
Ragwort, creeping thistle, spear thistle, broad leaved docks, curled leaved docks and wild oats are defined as noxious weeds.
DAERA has powers to insist that these weeds are controlled under notice, and failure to comply with such a requirement could result in prosecution and/or a farm payment penalty.
Owners and occupiers of land are also reminded that ragwort is poisonous and may cause illness and even death to livestock.
Noxious weeds should be controlled before they have had time to flower, seed and spread.
A factsheet giving information on the control of these weeds in grassland can be found on the DAERA website.
Further advice on weed control can be obtained from a qualified agronomist or a crops development adviser from the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprises (CAFRE).
Noxious weeds complaints and complaints involving invasive non-native plant species growing on agricultural land should be reported to DAERA.
The department is empowered to serve upon the owner of land or the occupier of land a notice requiring, within a specified time, noxious weeds to be cut down or destroyed.
Failure to comply with such a notice could lead to the instigation of legal proceedings or a penalty on farm payments.
FMD concerns raised to DAERA
Meanwhile, two Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politicians have written a joint letter to DAERA Minister Andrew Muir, and the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) secretary of state, Steve Reed, raising concerns about an apparent lack of animal disease controls for Northern Ireland.
The letter, by MLA Robbie Butler and MP Robin Swann, follows Reed’s announcement of a ban on cheese and meat imports into the UK from the EU to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).
Swann has previously submitted a number of Written Questions to Defra, and said the department was unable to answer how many consignments of animals or food products which enter at Dover then attended Sevington inland border facility in southeast England for further inspections.
