Northern Ireland

FFCC chaired the Land Use Working Group (LUWG) for Northern Ireland's Department for Environment, Agriculture and Rural Affairs (DAERA), which was established to review evidence and existing strategies relating to land use in Northern Ireland and to provide recommendations to help inform future land use policy. 

In September 2026, the LUWG published their report setting out the group's findings and recommendations and will help inform the development of a Land Use Framework for Northern Ireland, as well as wider discussions on future land use decision-making. DAERA Minister Andrew Muir welcomed the report, with DAERA committing to developing a Land Use Framework and establishing a Stakeholder Forum to support this work.

In September 2024, FFCC Northern Ireland helped launch the inaugural Fields Good festival with partners. The festival replicates the success of regenerative events in other parts of the UK, like Groundswell – and brings together farmers, growers and the wider food and agricultural community to learn, share and work towards a better food and farming future in Northern Ireland.

It continued in 2025 and 2026 with an even bigger programme of sessions and speakers – and looks set to become a mainstay of the food and farming calendar in Northern Ireland.

As part of FFCC’s nationwide Food Conversation, we held a deliberation Northern Ireland to find out what people there really want from food. A number of local food partnerships, including the Belfast Food Partnership, have also run community conversations with the help of our toolkit.

With a Food Strategy Framework approved by the Northern Ireland Executive in November 2024, we’re now working to ensure citizens’ concerns and asks are heard by leaders, decision-makers and politicians in the country.

NextGen-ReGen 2024 is a trailblazing three-year leadership development programme designed to empower the next generation of regenerative farmers to build a new community of practice in Northern Ireland. With the support of local and international regenerative farming and leadership experts, 20 farmers aged between 25-35 will grow their understanding of practical regenerative farming and soils, gain business confidence, and learn how to develop a resilient and successful farm business.

It is facilitated by GrowIN and the Food Farming and Countryside Commission, and generously funded by the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation.

FFCC initiated the Growing Innovation Network (GrowIN) - a network of farmers in Northern Ireland on a mission to support peer-to-peer learning and exchange between farmers across Northern Ireland – with the ambition to share learning with other places in the UK and Ireland.

The network encourages collaboration, sharing experience, ideas, and knowledge across the wider industry and society on regenerative farming practices and first steps along the journey. The project is funded by the Aurora Trust and delivered through a team of grassroots farmers in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland’s rural landscape of green fields and large areas of upland punctuated by loughs and criss-crossed by rivers hosts over 25,000 farms and around 23,500 species.

The vast majority of Northern Ireland's farmland is devoted to grazing for beef, sheep and dairy production which helps support a strong food processing industry. Together farming and food processing are responsible for 5% of Northern Ireland employment.

Almost all powers related to food, farming and the countryside are devolved to the Assembly at Stormont although, unlike the rest of the UK, Northern Ireland is subject to the rules of the EU Single Market. International trade policy, however, is set by the UK Government which leaves Northern Ireland in a rather uncertain place sharing a land border with the EU. Cross border movements are stitched into the fabric of our economy and many people’s daily lives. The future holds both threats and opportunities for farming, food and the environment.

FFCC Northern Ireland inquiry’s first report Lay of the Land gathered evidence of citizens’ views: farmers, shoppers, community groups, environmentalists, chefs, traders, young and old.

This evidence outlined the need for a transformation in the food and farming system to respond to the climate emergency, restore biodiversity, improve health and wellbeing and develop Northern Ireland's distinctive pattern of farming to support and revitalise rural communities. Lay of the Land offered a series of outcomes as a framework for a transition to a sustainable future.

The work of FFCC Northern Ireland is influenced and guided by an advisory group of experts from across the system, including:

• Ed Wright, Head of Sustainability, Dale Farm Ltd
  
• Helen Keys, Entrepreneur in Residence at Queen’s University Belfast, farmer and co-founder of Source Grow
• John Best, Farmer
• Kate Clifford, Director of the Rural Community Network
• Charlie Cole, Farmer
• Joe McDonald, Senior Corporate Affairs Manager at Asda NI
• Gary McFarlane, Director of the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health NI
• John Martin, Coordinator of Nature Matters
• Dr Liz Mitchell, Retired Consultant in Public Health
• Diane Ruddock, External Affairs Manager of The National Trust, Northern Ireland
• Professor Nigel Scollan, Director of the Institute for Global Food Security, Queen’s University Belfast and
• Michele Shirlow MBE, Chief Executive of Food NI.