AQW 23134/17-22

Mr John Blair
Alliance Party
South Antrim

Tabled Date: 24/09/2021
Answered On Date: 05/10/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs whether he will update the Efficient Farming Cuts Greenhouse Gases Implementation Plan before the end of the current Assembly mandate.

Answer:

The Efficient Farming Cuts Greenhouse Gases Implementation Plan 2016-2020 (EFP) is a framework of implementation actions designed to reduce the carbon intensity of our food production; technically it ended in December 2020. However, measures in the EFP continue to roll out under business-as-usual in accordance with conditions applicable to the individual delivery schemes / actions.

Measures supported through the NI Rural Development Programme 2014-20 are key to delivery of the EFP, with most scheduled to run until the end of 2023 (subject to funding/rule changes). These include Business Development Groups and Farm Family Key Skills – knowledge/technology transfer measures; Farm Business Improvement Scheme - Capital – providing grant support to purchase more efficient equipment; Environmental Farming and Forestry Schemes – providing support for carbon/climate/increased woodland objectives; and Technology Demonstration Farms – increasing adoption of more innovative farming practices.

My department is currently considering how best to take initiatives like the EFP forward in partnership with the agricultural sector. This is being considered in conjunction with a number of significant initiatives currently in development including a Green Growth Strategy, drafting of a Climate Change Bill and a post CAP Future Agricultural Policy Framework Portfolio for NI. The final design of these initiatives will help inform, shape and drive future policies and actions needed to ensure the agri-land use sector is economically viable, environmentally sustainable and contributes to the UK Net Zero by 2050 ambition.

My department will continue to support the roll-out of measures in the EFP, however, for the reasons outlined above I cannot at this stage commit to updating it before the end of the current Assembly mandate.