The UK Government’s lack of clarity on future agricultural policy after 2020 “scares the living day-lights” out of Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson.

“I am not very confident about the long-term future of agriculture,” he told The Impartial Reporter during an interview at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

He was fresh from a plenary session last Tuesday where the majority of European MEPs backed a full ban on glyphosate-based herbicides (which are used by farmers to protect their crops) by December 2022 and immediate restrictions on their use.

Mr. Nicholson commented: “It’s on days like today I’m nearly thankful that we are getting out of Europe because a lot of the rules coming forward are extremely restrictive and make the farmer’s job much more difficult.”

During a 28-year career in the European Parliament, Mr. Nicholson has maintained a focus on agriculture. 
He saw his “greatest fear” realised when the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union.

Local farm incomes are heavily reliant on the EU’s Basic Payment Scheme, which is a key component of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). DAERA farm income statistics from 2016 reveal that average direct payments now represent 169 per cent of the value of average Farm Business Income. 

Farming experts predict that cereal, cattle and sheep sectors in Northern Ireland will face particular difficulties if direct payments are altered or halted post Brexit.

“I am very confident that the current CAP situation will last until 2020 and it may last until 2022,” Mr. Nicholson stated, “but after that the UK Government has not spelt out what the future support for farming may or may not be. 

“That scares the living day-lights out of me.”

He added: “I wouldn’t trust [UK Environment Secretary] Michael Gove as far as I could throw him. 

“All UK Agricultural Ministers of all parties that I can remember never gave any support to the agricultural industry so agriculture is not going to be a priority for the UK Government.”

When asked for his response to the DUP’s stipulation that Theresa May’s government guarantees the levels of support to farmers until the end of this Parliament, Mr. Nicholson replied: “If you look at Mrs. May’s current position in Parliament, you wouldn’t be sure how long the current Parliament will last.”

He continued: “With all this talk of creating new trade deals, people have to be aware that trade deals come with negatives as well as pluses and there’s always something there to bite you. I don’t believe that trade with all these other countries is going to be manna from heaven.”
He said: “It is imperative that we protect our family farm structure in Northern Ireland because it is more important in Northern Ireland than in any other part of the United Kingdom. 

“People need good food and you cannot cut corners and you cannot go out to the corners of the world and import food into the UK that doesn’t meet the standards that our farmers are supposed to produce it to – that’s the bottom line for me.”

The lack of a functioning Northern Ireland Executive is the “number one drawback” in the ongoing Brexit negotiations, according to Mr. Nicholson.
“Once these negotiations are finished, there will be more negotiations in London as to how the money that will not be going to Brussels will be spent within the UK – the devolved structures are going to have a big say in that and we have no voice. It is extremely worrying to put it mildly,” said Mr. Nicholson.

After Brexit, Mr. Nicholson plans to “put on his wellie boots seven days a week.” 

In the meantime, his message to the UK and Irish governments and to European politicians is: “You need to solve this and be creative.”