SFP penalties face 2,500 farmers - 14 days to respond on 170kg Nitrates limit

By Pat O'Toole

A view of the Blackwater Arena of the new Cork Marts complex at Corrin, outside Fermoy, Co Cork, during the first day of trading.

2,500 farmers have been notified by the Department of Agriculture that their farm profiles indicate they exceeded the 170/kg organic N/Ha limit for 2007, and face SFP penalties if no satisfactory explanation can be given. The farmers concerned have been allowed 14 days to respond, explaining any measures they may have taken to reduce theirstocking rate.

The only options open would be to have taken extra grazing, or to have exported nutrients in the form of slurry or FYM.

In either case, farmers would be required to furnish evidence of such action. Prior notification is required for temporary grazing, and any movement of slurry/FYM should be recorded in the Nitrates records of both the exporting and importing farm. The Department have already taken into account farmers who had disease restrictions imposed on them, with force majeure applying in such cases.

Where non-compliance with the Nitrates Directive is deemed to be due to negligence, any penalty will be in the range of 0-5% of the SFP, with 3% being the typical penalty imposed. The level of penalty can be extremely punitive.

Penalties imposed for non-compliance with the Nitrates Directive due to intent, would range from 15-100% of the SFP, and could extend to beyond the year of the finding.

To put the scale of the problem in context, only 1,300 farmers had SFP inspections.

IFA Deputy President Derek Deane has called for some form of mechanism to be found for these farmers. "This is a completely new system, it is very complicated, and was poorly explained by the Department over the course of 2007. Some form of retrospective derogation is needed to create a period of adjustment.''