The current agricultural budget in Northern Ireland is “inadequate” to support farmers help tackle the nature and climate crisis, according to a new report.
The independent economic analysis, published today (Tuesday, July 23), found that investment in nature-friendly farming in Northern Ireland should be increased to £413 million per year to ensure nature targets and legally binding climate targets are met.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Northern Ireland (RSPB NI), the National Trust and Ulster Wildlife are calling on the new UK Government “to be ambitious in their plans to invest in Northern Ireland’s agriculture”.
They said that due to the worsening effect of the nature and climate crises, “any delay to future-proofing the agricultural sector will cost more to fix”.
Northern Ireland
The charities have highlighted how the majority of farmers in Northern Ireland currently have no access to funding for nature-friendly farming.
They said that the new Farming with Nature package “must be ambitious to support every farmer to bring back nature and tackle climate change while producing food sustainably and underpinning resilient businesses”.
Jonathan Bell, head of land and sea policy at RSPB NI, said: “As today’s Scale of Need report proves, the cost of inaction when it comes to properly investing in nature-friendly farming is far too great to ignore.
“We urgently need the new UK Government to rise to the challenge of ensuring our long-term food security is underpinned by both nature and climate security, being ambitious in funding and properly supporting farmers in transitioning to more resilient nature-friendly farm businesses.”
Building on previous analyses, the Scale of Need report gives “the most accurate assessment to date” of the level of investment required.
The new figures include, for the first time, analysis of different farm types across Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK and the variable costs of nature restoration across different sectors and sizes of farms.
“We now know, accurately, the levels of investment needed in Northern Ireland, and that nature restoration is not a cost, but a saving in every sense of the word,” Peter McEvoy, director of land management at Ulster Wildlife, said.
“Restoring habitats can protect communities from flooding, reduce runoff from farms and help protect soils and clean our rivers.
“A landscape full of wildlife lifts our spirits and promotes wellbeing. The huge return on this investment in nature-friendly farming must be realised by the new UK Government, and urgently,” he added.
Farming
The charities said that farmers in Northern Ireland are already experiencing the worsening impacts of the nature and climate crisis, with drought and flooding impacting the ability to grow food.
The UK Government’s 2021 Food Security Report identified climate change and biodiversity loss as the greatest threats to UK food security.
Kevin Duncan, farm advisor at the National Trust, said that the current agri-environment scheme in Northern Ireland, the Environmental Farming Scheme (EFS), is no longer available to the majority of farmers, with no replacement scheme yet in place.
“Farmers, who for years have been pioneering nature-friendly farming on our landscapes, no longer have access to this funding as they await the anticipated Farming with Nature Package set to replace EFS.
“We need the scale of need funding to be met by the UK Government, but it is also imperative that our Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) re-purposes this funding to deliver an expanded Farming with Nature Scheme moving away from business-as-usual approaches to agricultural funding,” he said.
Following the publication of today’s report, the charities argue that environmental schemes supporting nature and climate-friendly farming must be delivered at sufficient scale to meet the challenges ahead.
“In a nature and climate emergency, farmers must be rewarded to aid nature’s recovery and help tackle climate change, while also producing food sustainably and ensuring resilient businesses,” they said.
