There is still a lot of confusion out there about nitrogen fertiliser rates and allowances for 2024 and beyond.It was flagged in early spring that a 5% cut to nitrogen allowances would be introduced for 2024, but this plan has since been shelved and the original allowances now stand.
There is still a lot of confusion out there about nitrogen fertiliser rates and allowances for 2024 and beyond.
It was flagged in early spring that a 5% cut to nitrogen allowances would be introduced for 2024, but this plan has since been shelved and the original allowances now stand.
For farmers in a derogation, if they are stocked at between 170kg N/ha and 210kg N/ha they have 250kg N/ha to apply and if they are stocked greater than 210kg N/ha they have 225kg N/ha to apply.
So if there is say 50ha in the farm and the farm was stocked at 215kg N/ha in 2023 then the total nitrogen allowance will be 50 multiplied by 225kg which is 11,250kg of nitrogen.
To work out how much a farm has applied to date, they should log on to the fertiliser database on the Agfood website to see opening stocks plus purchases.
Subtract whatever nitrogen is in stock on farm to work out how much has been applied to date. To work out kilos of nitrogen, multiply the tonnage by the percentage of nitrogen in the product. For example, a pallet of urea contains 1.5t of 46% nitrogen which is 690kg of nitrogen.
The last day for spreading chemical nitrogen is 14 September but farmers should be aiming to have their last round applied before then.
After this date, farmers will have to include their closing stocks in the fertiliser database. The closing stocks for 2024 will automatically become the opening stocks for 2025.
On slurry, the last day for slurry to be applied is 30 September as the start of the closed period for 2024 is 1 October.
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