AQW 30500/17-22 Written question to the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs
To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail the total amount of funding provided from (i) Northern Ireland; (ii) the UK; and (iii) EU sources, to Northern Ireland farmers, in each of the last five years.
Asked by Claire Sugden MLA on 3 March 2022
- Answered
- Written
- Tabled
- 3 March 2022
- Answer due by
- 21 March 2022
- Answered
- 16 March 202213 days after tabling
- Priority question
- No
Answer
The Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs spent almost £1.7 billion on funding to Northern Ireland farmers from 2016/17 to 2020/21. This is analysed in the table below:
| 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 | 2020/21 | Total | |
| Payments | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m | £m |
| Pillar 1 - EU | 275.5 | 287.1 | 290.5 | 287.4 | (1.7) | 1,138.8 |
| Pillar 2 - EU | 17.5 | 13.7 | 12.8 | 16.8 | 4.0 | 64.8 |
| Total EU | 293.0 | 300.8 | 303.3 | 304.2 | 2.3 | 1,203.6 |
| Pillar 1 - NI | - | - | - | - | 294.5 | 294.5 |
| Pillar 2 - NI | 11.7 | 11.2 | 9.8 | 9.1 | 3.6 | 45.4 |
| TB Compensation - NI | 18.4 | 23.0 | 23.6 | 19.5 | 22.3 | 106.8 |
| Covid-19 Grants - NI | - | - | - | - | 26.6 | 26.6 |
| Total NI Payments | 30.1 | 34.2 | 33.4 | 28.6 | 347.0 | 473.3 |
| Total Payments to Farmers | 323.1 | 335.0 | 336.7 | 332.8 | 349.3 | 1,676.9 |
All Northern Ireland funding was provided by the UK government through the normal budgetary processes and there was no separate funding to farmers from GB departments during this period.