Pig farmers will this week receive a letter from the Department to ask if they want to be included on a database indicating they have slurry needing a home.

This move follows the ending of the transition arrangement which allowed crop producers to use slightly more than the official crop allowance where they were applying either pig slurry, poultry manure or spent mushroom compost.

The Department initiative aims to compile a list of pig farmers willing to have their contact details made available to Teagasc or private agricultural advisers to help facilitate the export of slurry.

So pig farmers who need to find an outlet for slurry, given that it may need to travel further to find a legal home, should reply to this letter to provide their contact details.

Contact details need to be submitted by 21 March 2017 and this list will remain valid until 30 June 2018.

The letter will include a form to provide the contact details and this needs to be filled in and returned to the Nitrates Section at DAFM Johnstown Castle by 21 March. The relevant details can also be emailed to manureexport@agriculture.gov.ie

Once a contact list is compiled, the Department intends to text farmers in the locality of pig units, to encourage the use of pig slurry as a fertiliser. The objective is to facilitate pig farmers who will have slurry to export in 2017. Then farmers seeking to import pig slurry should contact their local agricultural adviser (Teagasc or private) for contact details of farmers who have slurry available.

Inventory list

The Department also wishes to advise farmers that pig slurry imported on to a holding in the closed period in 2017 will be treated as inventory for application in 2018, rather than being considered as applied in the year of importation. This has caused significant problems in the past so it is a welcome development.

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