{"id":23614,"date":"2023-12-01T09:22:45","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T09:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/?p=23614"},"modified":"2023-12-01T09:27:13","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T09:27:13","slug":"agri-food-policy-environmental-protections-and-plans-within-plans-within-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/articles\/explainers\/agri-food-policy-environmental-protections-and-plans-within-plans-within-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Agri-food policy, environmental protections and plans within plans within plans"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em><strong>A single sentence in a newspaper unravels to reveal how strategic policy can be 1) like a Russian Doll, and 2) open to various interpretations of blame.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On 13 October, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/uk-news\/2023\/oct\/13\/the-hope-we-had-is-gone-how-20-months-of-stasis-has-paralysed-northern-ireland\">an article in the Guardian<\/a> claimed that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c<em>All five big parties \u2013 the DUP, Sinn F\u00e9in, Ulster Unionists, Alliance and the SDLP \u2013 signed off on the 2013 \u2018Going for Growth\u2019 strategy, which intensified farming and sent ever more slurry into Lough Neagh.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a deceptively simple statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rather than try to pin down its overall accuracy \u2013 which is trickier than it seems at first glance \u2013 instead we\u2019ll use this as a nice launching point for an examination of public policy and how it is crafted. Particularly when it comes to long-term, high-level strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Design, sign off, implementation: it sounds very basic. However, big strategies often contain plans within plans, and plans to make further plans.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This muddies the waters around what decisions, made when, actually led to change on the ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, the statement in the Guardian makes two claims:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1. All five of the largest parties signed off on Going for Growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. That strategy led to more slurry going into Lough Neagh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first claim could be called accurate or inaccurate, depending on your perspective. The second is difficult to unpick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The starting point is 2012, and the creation of something called the Agri-Food Strategy Board (AFSB).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>AFSB<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The Agri-Food Strategy Board was established jointly by the then Department for Agriculture and Rural Development and the then Department for Enterprise Trade and Investment, whose respective ministers at the time were Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s Michelle O\u2019Neill and the DUP\u2019s Arlene Foster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The creation of the board resulted from a Programme for Government commitment, at a time when each of the largest five parties were part of the Northern Ireland Executive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Its purpose was to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.daera-ni.gov.uk\/news\/agri-food-strategy-board-achieves-significant-progress\"> \u201crecommend longer term actions required to assist the sustainable development of the NI agri-food industry.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although<a href=\"https:\/\/www.investni.com\/sites\/default\/files\/documents\/static\/library\/invest-ni\/documents\/agri-food-strategy-board-call-for-evidence-information-booklet.pdf\"> most of the board<\/a> came from the agrifood industry, it also contained a handful of government appointees, and therefore was not strictly independent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It put out a call for evidence in August 2012 and the following year published its strategic action plan:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.daera-ni.gov.uk\/articles\/going-growth-strategic-action-plan\"> <em>Going for Growth (GfG).<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Strategic actions<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.daera-ni.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/dard\/going-for-growth.pdf\"><em>Going for Growth &#8211; a strategic action plan in support of the Northern Ireland agri-food industry<\/em><\/a> contained 118 recommended actions, covering the breadth of the agri-food industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s worth noting that slurry \u2013 a mixture of livestock manure and water, and sometimes other farmyard waste material like flecks of concrete \u2013 is only mentioned in the 85-page document <strong>once:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cNorthern Ireland, therefore, has a strong competitive advantage in having ample water and low projected impact from climate change. <\/em><strong><em>Much good work has already been done in improving water quality, both with on-farm investment to better manage slurry and with a halving of the amount of fertiliser applied to our grassland.<\/em><\/strong><em> A strong regulatory position and supportive investment from Government has helped raise our game significantly. Further improvements could be delivered quickly if the industry-led solution for converting poultry waste into energy is supported by Government and help provided to encourage water recycling in food processing factories.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The paper has no mention whatsoever of the word \u201cmanure\u201d. The only references to&nbsp; Lough Neagh note that there is a \u201clong tradition\u201d of harvesting its eels, and that more should be done to \u201cto harness the resource of Lough Neagh for alternative species.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The AFSB published the plan in 2013 and later that year the NI Assembly carried out<a href=\"http:\/\/www.niassembly.gov.uk\/globalassets\/documents\/raise\/publications\/2015\/dard\/2216.pdf\"> research<\/a> on how many of the 118 recommendations in it were new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This research suggested that 25% of the recommendations were (or possibly were) \u201cnew\u201d and some others partially so, leaving over two-thirds of the recommendations carried over from existing documents. Therefore, even from its inception, large swathes of what GfG recommended pre-dated that strategy anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Sign off?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2014, the Executive published<a href=\"https:\/\/www.daera-ni.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/dard\/ni_executive_response_to_going_for_growth.pdf\"> its own strategic action plan<\/a>, in <em>response<\/em> to GfG. However, this Executive response basically amounts to the adoption of GfG\u2019s recommendations (with some caveats, that we\u2019ll come to later).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>So, in a <\/strong><strong><em>literal<\/em><\/strong><strong> sense, the Executive did not sign off on Going for Growth. Instead, they produced their own plan \u201cin response to\u201d GfG.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, that plan is extremely similar to the AFSB\u2019s own document, with an action plan that is basically identical. A rose by any other name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is it accurate that all big five parties \u201csigned off on the 2013 \u2018Going for Growth\u2019 strategy\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you want to say it <strong>isn\u2019t<\/strong> truly accurate, you should still concede that what they actually did was effectively very similar. This is the same as how, in health, the Bengoa report (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.health-ni.gov.uk\/publications\/systems-not-structures-changing-health-and-social-care-full-report\"><em>Systems, Not Structures<\/em><\/a>) is not actually the Executive\u2019s plan to transform Health and Social Care. Instead, that is<a href=\"https:\/\/www.health-ni.gov.uk\/publications\/health-and-wellbeing-2026-delivering-together\"> <em>Delivering Together<\/em><\/a>, a strategy based on Bengoa\u2019s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyway, what about all this slurry?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Plans, more plans, and plans within plans<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The recommendations contained in GfG and in the Executive\u2019s response amounted to a \u201cstrategic action plan\u201d in the truest sense &#8211; it was lots of plans to make more plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That is fine. In fact, it\u2019s in the nature of high-level, long-term strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It does call into question how much that specific things that happen in the real world are tied to the initial plan, rather than decisions that were made in response to that plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Specifically, both GfG and the Executive response contain a set of actions related to \u201cBetter Regulation\u201d, including action number 38:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cRegulators and Industry must engage in order to develop an agreed regulatory environment which adds value, is proportionate, informed and has a risk-based approach to regulation.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Further to this, the Executive response to GfG contains several general, non-specific, but nonetheless clear statements that a balance will need to be struck between industrial development and environmental protections:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cThe Executive welcomes the AFSB\u2019s commitment to sustainable growth and the promotion of sustainability as a cornerstone of the NI brand. We have a duty to safeguard our natural heritage and biodiversity for future generations.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The document said officials and industry will work together to \u201cdevelop an agricultural land use strategy to determine how to optimise production efficiency and balanced environmental outcomes\u201d, while the Executive itself will develop \u201ca new Environmental Farming Scheme which will include measures to sustain and enhance biodiversity, improve water quality, increase woodland creation, and help to mitigate against climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Executive response said further that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cWe recognise industry\u2019s desire for a more business-friendly regulatory environment but are also mindful that this must be balanced with our duty to protect consumers and the environment.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The finger of blame<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Fast forward a decade, and<a href=\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/articles\/is-northern-ireland-the-least-environmentally-protected-place-in-europe\/\"> Lough Neagh is dying.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The reasons for that are varied and complex. Slurry may have played a significant part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, is that because of <em>Going for Growth<\/em>, a high-level strategy that does not specifically address slurry or livestock manure?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if environmental failures have been made in the wake of GfG, arguably they arose from poor decisions made long after GfG (or, strictly, the Executive response to GfG) was adopted as policy and, in fact, represented a failure to implement the Executive\u2019s idea that reforms should balance agri-food development with environmental sustainability. And, so, the plans that were planned for in the strategic action plan ultimately became bad plans, even though the initial plan to make more plans was itself an OK plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For instance, updated regulations on disposal of animal manure were made in April 2019, covering a three-year period. There is no clear relationship between the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.daera-ni.gov.uk\/publications\/nutrient-action-programme-regulations-northern-ireland-2019-22-and-associated-documents\"> <em>Nutrient Action Programme Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2019-22<\/em><\/a> (NAP) and Going for Growth. Those regulations have a much more direct relationship with slurry disposal and water quality than GfG \u2013 and, of course, equivalent regulations were in place<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theoep.org.uk\/report\/review-nutrient-action-programme-ni-matter-urgency-deadline-missed\"> long before the formation of GfG.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or you could take another view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is just as plausible to suggest that, however non-specific it may have been, GfG has some ownership of everything that flowed outwards from its strategic recommendations \u2013 and indeed, on what was <em>omitted<\/em> from consideration as a result. And, being a high-level document with a very wide umbrella, that is arguably most if not all agri-food policy in NI for the past decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to marrying together public policy and blame, sometimes we all have to make our own choices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A single sentence in a newspaper unravels to reveal how strategic policy can be 1) like a Russian Doll, and 2) open to various interpretations of blame. On 13 October, an article in the Guardian claimed that: \u201cAll five big parties \u2013 the DUP, Sinn F\u00e9in, Ulster Unionists, Alliance and the SDLP \u2013 signed off&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,17],"tags":[346,356],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Agri-food policy, environmental protections and plans within plans within plans - FactCheckNI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/articles\/explainers\/agri-food-policy-environmental-protections-and-plans-within-plans-within-plans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Agri-food policy, environmental protections and plans within plans within plans - FactCheckNI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A single sentence in a newspaper unravels to reveal how strategic policy can be 1) like a Russian Doll, and 2) open to various interpretations of blame. 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