Edwin Poots to step back from farming to avoid conflict of interest

The new agriculture minister has said climate change adaption is the biggest challenge he faces

Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots is to step back from farming in order to prevent any perception of a conflict of interest in his new role.

He said he was finalising the paperwork to give effect to the decision.

Mr Poots' responsibilities also cover the environment which has been under pressure from things like agricultural emissions.

The new minister said climate change adaptation was the biggest single challenge he faced.

He said he wanted to find ways to let farms flourish, while cutting agricultural emissions of ammonia and greenhouse gases.

Mr Poots said not enough credit was given to the ability of the livestock system here to lock up considerable quantities of carbon in pastures and soils.

'Very tight timeframe'

He described the two years left of the current Stormont mandate as a "very tight timeframe" for the agreement of a new agriculture policy for Northern Ireland.

Mr Poots said he favoured significant changes to the current system of farm support based on the amount of land farmers hold.

He would prefer to see money being channelled to productive farms, but also favoured sectoral support which would underpin hill farmers' incomes through a beef payment scheme.

On Brexit, Mr Poots said he would resist pressure from London for checks at Northern Ireland ports.

He suggested any necessary checks could take place at company premises rather than at ports saying "we've have no intention of putting infrastructure in place".

He also did not rule out checks on Northern Ireland-bound goods happening at Scottish ports.

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Bovine TB

On the issue of Bovine TB, Mr Poots said the issue needed to be addressed in wildlife - particularly badgers - at the same time as it was tackled in the cattle population.

Bovine TB costs tax payers in Northern Ireland £40m per year

He has two options, both of which involve some kind of badger cull, though one would be more extensive than the other.

He said he had yet to assess which was the most effective and offered the best value for money.

Bovine TB costs taxpayers in Northern Ireland around £40m a year in testing and compensation for farmers whose cattle are destroyed.

Mr Poots said as the issue was controversial a final decision would need executive approval.