Northern Ireland Assembly
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Committee calls for Evidence on New Agriculture Bill
The Assembly’s Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has launched a ‘Call for Evidence’ on the Agriculture Bill. It seeks to amend the legacy EU Fruit and Vegetable Aid Scheme (FVAS), which is currently available to Producer Organisations here via the assimilated law version of the EU Regulation.
The new Bill would provide the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs with the powers to make the funding of the FVAS discretionary. It would also allow the Department to further amend assimilated law, through Regulations, in areas covering the design and delivery of the FVAS and the agri-food information and promotion schemes for agricultural products.
The Chairperson of the Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee, Robbie Butler MLA recently said:
“The Committee does have some concerns in relation to the proposal to make FVAS support discretionary and the wider impact and implications that this could have for current and future local Producer Organisations.
“While currently, there is only one Producer Organisation here that avails of the scheme, they have already been very clear to us about the benefits it provides in allowing for certainty in terms of long-term financial and operational planning. We all know from experience that in budget-constrained times, discretionary payments can often be considered ‘low-hanging fruit’ and we are keen to hear from all those that could be impacted by this Bill in terms of the assurance needed with regards guaranteed future funding.”
The Chairperson continued:
“We are also well aware that this is a short and narrowly focused Bill and that one of the original considerations was to include the proposals in a broader Agriculture Bill. We are therefore keen to hear the views of stakeholders on this and whether or not they feel there could be any issues in advancing this Bill while future farming policy and post-EU exit policy is still under development by the Minister.”
The Chairperson concluded:
“We would encourage all of those impacted by the proposals set out in this Bill and also those with views on the wider context around the scope of the legislation to complete our ‘Call for Views’, all responses will be examined and factored into the Committee’s final report.”
The Committee’s ‘Call for Views’ survey and further information is available here: https://lk.cmte.fyi/TCH1 and will remain open until Friday, 14 February 2025.
For media enquiries please contact:
Sinead Murphy, Communications Officer
Northern Ireland Assembly
Mobile: 0789 9864 368
Email: Sinead.murphy@niassembly.gov.uk
Notes to Editor:
Original article link: https://www.niassembly.gov.uk/news-and-media/press-releases/session-2024-2025/committee-calls-for-evidence-on-new-agriculture-bill/