The Ulster Farmers’ Union (UFU) has met changes to agricultural machinery movement rules between Northern Ireland and Britain with “outrage and profound frustration”.

The farming organisation stated that the timeframe around increased machinery paperwork and phytosanitary inspection requirements demonstrated a “staggering lack of understanding of practical agricultural realities”.

The UFU said that industry stakeholders were granted an “utterly unacceptable” five working days’ notice of the 23 June implementation date.

"The notion that our industry, already grappling with complex post-Brexit realities, can absorb such a drastic operational change with a paltry five working days' warning is beyond absurd,” UFU president William Irvine commented.

“It demonstrates an astonishing disconnect between policymakers and the gritty realities of farming life.

“Government have proven themselves inadequate in communicating these vital messages to those who actually move machinery between GB and NI.”

Assurances

The union claimed that the roll-out of the new rules “flies in the face of explicit assurances made by the government over a year ago”.

It said that these assurances outlined a path for machinery dealers and farmers to benefit from the “straightforward” Northern Ireland plant health label (NIPHL) for machinery staying in NI and committed to simply the requirements for machines planned for onward movement to the EU.

"These were solemn commitments, uttered by the government itself, to provide flexibility and ease. What we have witnessed, however, is a cynical dismantling of those assurances.

“Promises made over a year ago have been broken. Furthermore, the decision that machinery entering NI under the NIPHL can never enter the Republic of Ireland clearly demonstrates a profound lack of understanding about cross-border trade and the very nature of farms that straddle the border.

“This isn’t about protecting our island; it’s about bureaucratic overkill that fails to grasp basic agricultural and economic geography,” Irvine added.