Nitrates records - Deadline looms for inspection

Next Monday, 31 March, is the deadline by which all farmers are required to have nitrates records on their holding available for inspection. This is a requirement of cross-compliance, and penalties can, and, according to the Department of Agriculture, will be applied.

This requirement was first indicated to farmers back in November/December 2006, during the introductory phase of the cross-compliance regime.

The 'Explanatory Handbook', distributed at the time, contained the necessary information, and the round of public meetings held by the department outlined the necessary records. However, at the time, farmers were far more concerned by the impending first round of unannounced inspections, and the difficulties they were having with slurry storage during the first mandatory closed period for spreading. This issue slipped under the radar then, and in the intervening 15 months, there has been a resounding silence on the issue.

Those farmers who received inspections last winter were made aware that they would have to file their Nitrates Records by the end of March, and copies of the necessary sheets were left with them for completion. It hardly amounts to a comprehensive information service.

We have attempted to inform farmers of what is required of them through our pages, and we urge everyone to carefully complete the Nitrates Records, but it has not been the finest information campaign.