Reinstating an Area of Natural Constraint (ANC) payment on Severely Disadvantaged Area (SDA) land in NI would cost at least £11.4m per year, with this money taken off all other farm payments in NI, a senior DAERA official has said.
Briefing the Stormont Agriculture committee last Thursday, Richard Johnston from DAERA said the last ANC payment, made in 2018, was paid out under ministerial direction after officials questioned whether it was a good use of public funds.
The main issue back then was the proposed seven-year transition to flat-rate payments, starting from 2015, which, according to Johnston, has resulted in a £19m redirection in funding away from lowland farms to the SDA.
“The £19m shift remains a recurring and substantial benefit to SDA farmers,” he said.
In 2018, ANC payment rates were £26.57/ha for the first 200ha and £19.93/ha thereafter.
A private member’s bill, brought by west Tyrone MLA Declan McAleer, has suggested these rates are retained, with an annual uplift to allow for price inflation.
Adjusting for the 2025 retail price index, it would now cost approximately £11.4m. However, unless there is a new source of money found within Stormont, Johnston was clear that this £11.4m would have to come from out of the £332.5m annual earmarked budget set aside for agriculture and fisheries support.
“With inflation linked increases mandated in the Bill, the proportion of funding diverted away from the Farm Sustainability Payment and other schemes would increase year-on-year,” he said.
The likes of the Ulster Farmers’ Union have said it will only support the bill if a source of new funding is made available, and the bill sponsor, Declan McAleer, has also previously stated that funding should not come from the £332.5m pot.
However, last Thursday the Sinn Fein MLA highlighted the £261m spent on agency staff, IT projects and consultants by DAERA over the last five years.
“Is it a case that this is less to do with affordability and more to do with the political priorities of the department?” questioned McAleer.
He also pointed out that we did not have a full flattening of payments to the detriment of SDA farmers, with the seven-year transition halted at year five (2019). In addition, SDA farmers tend to have lower Beef Carbon Reduction Scheme and Protein Crop Scheme payments than in other areas.
“Extensive developmental work” has been done on a new sheep scheme in NI, Richard Johnston from DAERA told last Thursday’s meeting of the Stormont Agriculture committee.
“We plan to announce more in the development of sheep sectoral support later in the year. We have a set of options looking at improving health and ovine genetics and we are working through that process,” he confirmed.
He also argued that, with nearly 60% of breeding ewes in the SDA, a new sheep scheme could potentially be more beneficial than reinstating ANC payments.
However, if MLAs vote through Declan McAleer’s ANC bill in the coming months, it will mean DAERA will have to divert resources to put that ANC scheme in place.
“It would either slow or stop the progress of certain schemes and, at the minute, as the minister [Andrew Muir] has said, the progress of the sheep scheme is the one that would be at risk,” said Johnston.
SHARING OPTIONS