More lenient cross-compliance on the way for NI farmers

Farmers in Northern Ireland (NI) are set to benefit from a more lenient approach to breaches of cross-compliance rules applied to their support under schemes such as the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS).

To receive such payments, farmers must meet certain “statutory management requirements” relating to the environment, public health and animal welfare, as well as maintaining the land in “good agricultural and environmental condition”.

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Failure to do so may result in deductions to payments – of 1% to 5% for “negligent” breaches, and from 20% to 100% for “intentional” breaches.

Agriculture minister Edwin Poots had previously announced some reduction in penalties for 2021.

But now he is going further, with new legislation from 24 October 2022 making the financial penalty applied in the event of repeated negligent breaches “fairer and more proportionate” than the current regime.

High penalties

Under current arrangements, repeated negligent breaches can be considered “intentional” and attract very high BPS deductions of up to 100%.

The new regime, which applies to the 2022 scheme year, means these penalties will be capped at 15%.

“This is a much fairer approach to our hard-working farmers,” Mr Poots said, adding that it was only possible to make the change because the UK has left the EU.

The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) has welcomed the move. Its president David Brown said: “The UFU never agreed to the old policy that a penalty could be classified as ‘intentional’ automatically.

“This approach was totally unfair as many farmers get caught up in the business of running the farm business, bringing with it significant pressure, and did not understand the consequences of doing something the wrong way.

“The regime as it was, was totally rigid and the information and standards that were expected of farmers was not communicated clearly by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.

“We fully agree that repeat and intentional serious offences must be punished, but too many farmers were being handed heavy penalties for breaches that were committed innocently, as they went about their day-to-day work with no awareness of the implications.”

Mr Poots has also indicated that “significant changes” are being planned, to change the payment system from a punitive cross-compliance model to a simplified set of farm sustainability standards, “tailored to suit the requirements of the industry in Northern Ireland”.