In hindsight, the decision taken within DAERA to publish a Nutrients Action Programme (NAP) consultation, which included totally unrealistic proposals to tackle the problem issue of excess phosphorus from NI agriculture, looks to be a significant blunder.

For some farmers, it has reinforced a belief that the current DAERA Minister Andrew Muir has some sort of underlying agenda to cut livestock and remove people off the land. It is hard to see how he can turn that narrative around in the remainder of the current Stormont mandate (running to May 2027).

However, we just don’t know whether Minister Muir was made fully aware of the implications of what was proposed before the NAP consultation was released. Or perhaps there was just an assumption among some civil servants that as a former member of Friends of the Earth, he would give them political cover for a very ambitious timeframe for change.

But it is only fair that we recognise there are competing voices coming at both the minister and his officials. That includes from the UK Office of Environment Protection (OEP), the body formed in 2021, which holds government to account around environmental law. It is an oversight role previously undertaken by the European Commission before Brexit. The latest OEP advice to Minister Muir effectively states that he hasn’t gone far enough in his NAP proposals. Given that the OEP can take enforcement action, it is advice the minister cannot ignore.

Looking ahead, perhaps a legal challenge from NI agri-food will bring the current NAP consultation to an abrupt halt, but if it doesn’t, it is really important that farmers make their views heard and complete individual responses by the 24 July deadline. The number of responses does matter when it comes to DAERA summarising the feedback received.

The key argument is that the entire agri-food industry must be given time and appropriate government support to deal with surplus phosphorus (P) within farming. Waste water treatment must also step up to the mark.