Reviewed water quality measures out for consultation

Farmers who sign up to a new programme could face fewer inspections, if fresh proposals to tackle water pollution from agriculture are adopted.

The draft Nutrient Action Programme (NAP) 2027-2030 has been published for consultation.

The previous draft document led to calls of “scrap the NAP”, with farmers saying it was out of touch with day-to-day farming.

Under management consultant Karen Brosnan, a task-and-finish group of more than 70 farmers, scientists, environmentalists and agri-food representatives reviewed responses to that consultation and have agreed on a new document.

The NAP is reviewed every four years and this latest version is already overdue.

The task-and-finish group, made up of more than 70 farmers, scientists, environmentalists, agri-food producers and policy makers, met more than 60 times after being set up 9 months ago.

John McLenaghan, president of the Ulster Farmers’ Union, was involved in the process.

He said the new document was unrecognisable from what had been published before.

“It wasn’t straightforward. It wasn’t simple – these are complex issues.

“But central to it all the way through was this idea of introducing measures which would be practical at a farm level, workable at a farm level, would still maintain productivity and provide that opportunity for productivity growth sustainably, and at the same time show environmental improvement, particularly in terms of water quality, which the NAP primarily looks at.

“The key thing is that we keep this workable and practically, I think that was one of the great wins from this process – everybody recognising and understanding everybody else’s position better as we went through the process.”

The co-design approach was “a little nerve-wracking”, according to the group’s chair, Karen Brosnan.

“But we’ve been very fortunate that those in the room have chosen to be there and they’ve chosen to comply with the design and comply with the terms of reference and the charter.

“So people chose to engage respectfully and to stay at the conversation until solutions were agreed.

“It’s a way of working that works.”