PROPOSALS by Edwin Poots' department for post-Brexit support for agriculture could threaten the livelihood of hundreds of small farmers, according to the chair a Stormont committee.
Sinn Féin MLA Declan McAleer said proposals to increase the minimum claim size for resilience payments would "exclude thousands of small farmers, putting many of them out of business".
A consultation on the new farm subsidy that will replace direct payments was launched in December and is due to close next Tuesday February 15.
Under the proposal, the minimum area of farmland that can be claimed for will increase from from three hectares (7.4 acres) to 10 hectares (24.7 acres).
Mr McAleer, chair of the assembly's agriculture committee, said small farmers "must have their voices heard" and their interests reflected in any new proposals to replace EU funding.
“Farmers have been waiting anxiously for years to find out what payments they will be entitled to in the wake of Brexit and the loss of EU funding," he said.
"The minister’s proposals are bad news for small family farms and they are damaging for rural communities."
He urged any farmers likely to be impacted to make a submission to the department's consultation.
A Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs spokesperson pointed out that the proposals were tabled "back in December".
"The proposals aim to deliver a future agricultural policy which better meets the needs of our farming community moving forward," the spokesperson said.
According to the department the new measure is proposed as a "simple area based income payment to provide a safety net, progressing down to a level which does not blunt innovation or productivity".
“Within the consultation document, an progressive upper threshold for payment and lower threshold of farm size are proposed in keeping with the policy rationale," the spokesperson said.
