DARD and AFBI host EU working group meetings

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) and the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) recently hosted two important EU meetings in Northern Ireland on agriculture and water quality in Europe.

The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) Common Implement Strategy (CIS) Working Group on Agriculture met in CAFRE Greenmount Campus on the 6 October 2014. The meeting was attended by over 50 delegates from across the EU27 member states and was chaired by Claire McCamphill from DG Environment in Brussels and was attended by local stakeholders including representatives from the Ulster Farmers’ Union, the RSPB, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Department of the Environment and NI Environment Link.

The aim of the CIS working group is to address the challenges of implementing the WFD in a co-operative and co-ordinated manner across the EU. The meeting dealt with a variety of issues proposed rural development programmes; pesticide national action plans; integration of EU water policy objectives with the Common Agricultural Policy; and inclusion of WFD basic measures in cross-compliance.

The delegates also visited CAFRE’s new dairy unit and the constructed wetland at Greenmount Campus.

Simultaneously, a meeting, of the North Western European Science-Policy Working Group on reducing nutrient emissions from agriculture took place. Both DARD and AFBI are members of the group and this annual meeting brought together 20 key researchers and policy makers from across the north western countries of the EU to discuss common issues related to managing the impact of nutrients from agriculture on water quality. The meeting was hosted by Brian Ervine (DARD) and Dr. Donnacha Doody (AFBI) and was chaired by Dr Oscar Schoumans from Wageningen Alterra in the Netherlands.

On the 7 October 2014 both groups joined together for a field trip to the Ballinderry Rivers Trust Project near Cookstown. Mark Horton from the Rivers Trust delivered a presentation on the project. This was followed by a tour of the Freshwater Pearl Mussel (FPM) and fish hatchery and catchment to see the collaborative work that the Trust is doing with farmers to reduce the impact of sediment and nutrient on the FPM population in the river.

The meetings were co-funded by DARD and the Environmental Protection Agency and organised by DARD Environmental Policy Branch and the Agri-Environment Branch in AFBI.
 

Notes to editors: 

AFBI carries out high quality technology research and development, statutory, analytical, and diagnostic testing functions for DARD and other Government departments, public bodies and commercial companies.

AFBI's Vision is “Scientific excellence in Northern Ireland …  serving the world”.

All media enquiries to AFBI Press Office.

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