To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to outline the action he is taking to reduce the impact of slurry on the environment.

Mr Muir

A wide range of actions are being progressed. The nutrients action programme is the key measure to control nutrient pollution from agricultural sources and improve water quality and includes a wide range of measures on the storage, spreading and management of slurry, manures and chemical fertilisers. The nutrients action programme is currently being reviewed, and a public consultation and proposals for the updated NAP will be launched in early 2025. My Department is also developing an ammonia strategy to deliver reductions in ammonia emissions from agriculture. I wish to seek additional views on the proposed mandatory ammonia reduction measures in the ammonia strategy, including the use of low-emission slurry spreading equipment (LESSE), as part of the NAP consultation process. In October 2024, my Department awarded contracts worth £4 million each to two companies in Northern Ireland as part of phase 2 of the sustainable utilisation of livestock slurry (SULS) small business research initiative. By the end of year three, the project seeks to remove and export at least 1,000 tonnes of phosphorus per year from livestock manures that are applied on the land in Northern Ireland. The launch of phase 2 of SULS delivers on action 10 of the Lough Neagh action plan.

Mr Speaker

We now move to topical questions to the Minister.