Commenting on Minister Andrew Muir’s address to the Oxford Farming Conference, Ulster Unionist Party Deputy Leader and Chair of Stormont’s Agriculture Committee Robbie Butler MLA said that while warm words about resilience and ambition may play well on an international stage, they do little to restore confidence among Northern Ireland’s hard-working farming families.

Ulster Unionist Party Deputy Leader and Agriculture spokesperson Robbie Butler MLA stated:

“Farmers listening to this speech will have heard plenty about vision, collaboration and aspiration. What they have been lacking for far too long is confidence that the Minister and his Department truly understand the pressure they are under or indeed are willing to take the decisive action needed to secure their future.

“While we should acknowledge progress on farm family tax thresholds, we must not overstate that achievement. This was a concession forced by sustained pressure from the farming community and the Ulster Unionist Party, in particular Robin Swann MP, Lord Elliott and myself. It does not, however, erase the deep anxiety that still exists around inter-generational farm transfer and long-term viability.

“On bovine TB, I’ll be blunt. Farmers are weary of pilots, blueprints and timelines that always seem to sit just beyond the horizon. bTB has devastated families, livelihoods and the mental health of farmers and their families across Northern Ireland. What we are seeing now feels like continued can-kicking rather than the urgent, resolute action farmers were promised. Confidence will not return until real progress is visible on the ground.

“Minister Muir’s repeated invocation of ‘science’ speaks volumes about his Department’s thinking. Science only carries authority when it is trusted. That trust has been badly damaged by the handling of the Lough Neagh environmental disaster, where farming was too readily blamed while wider systemic failures were downplayed. Farmers feel lectured, not listened to.

“The continued inaction on ammonia is actively harming rural communities. Refusing to modernise outdated ammonia regulations is blocking planning applications, stalling farm development and suffocating rural growth. Farmers want to reduce emissions, but they also need workable, proportionate rules that allow families and businesses to move forward.

“Resilience cannot be delivered through speeches alone. It requires leadership that rebuilds trust, delivers certainty and backs Northern Ireland’s farmers not just with ambition, but with action.”