Rows on co-op shop floors between those who want to sell fertiliser and those who want to buy fertiliser will be avoided by those who register early for the new National Fertiliser Database, the Department of Agriculture has stressed.

“We don’t want standoffs on the co-op shop floor over non-registration. The system is so simple and straightforward, it takes just a number of clicks and then farmers are registered. It’s a once-off job, forever more,” Paul Vickers from the Department of Agriculture told a webinar last week.

Farmers must register on the database before 1 September, the date from which it will be an offence to sell or purchase fertiliser and lime without being registered.

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Fertiliser imported from outside the State must also be notified to the database from this date onwards within 72 hours of import.

Farmers who are buying fertiliser from merchants must be registered as a professional fertiliser end-user. However, if they are involved in the import of fertiliser or farm-to-farm transfers they must register as fertiliser economic operators.

The next important date for farmers to keep in mind is 15 September – the declaration date of closing stocks of fertiliser on the farm. They have one month, up until 15 October, to submit closing stocks of fertiliser.

Even if a farmer has no fertiliser on their farm at this date, they must still be registered and declare no stocks by 15 October.

According to Department of Agriculture figures up to 2 August 2023, the latest available, 1,535 farmers have registered on the database.

A total of 51 merchants have registered as fertiliser economic operators.