The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has announced that nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) statements for cattle only for the period January to October 2017 are now available on the Department’s online system at www.agfood.ie.

These statements are particularly useful to allow farmers to plan for the remainder of the year in order to ensure compliance with the limits of the nitrates regulations, thus avoiding penalties for breaching the limits of 170kg N/ha or 250kg N/ha for those who hold an approved derogation.

Failure to comply with these limits are a significant factor in farmers receiving penalties to their Basic Payment Scheme.

Exclusions

Farmers should be aware that these statements do not take into account the volume of N and P produced by sheep or goats on the holding or other grazing and non-grazing animals.

Figures submitted in the annual sheep and goat census are used by the Department for calculating the volumes produced, but farmers are advised to do their own calculations, especially where stock numbers or the land area farmed may have changed.

Act now

Where the farm is coming close to the limit, or exceeding it, there are still a number of measures that farmers can take.

Stock numbers on the farm can be reduced or another option is to export organic N.

One crucial aspect to take account of is that the farm that is importing the organic fertiliser should not go over the limits either or they too could be liable for a penalty to their basic payment.

A record of the movement of organic fertilisers must be submitted to the Department before 31 December 2017.

The form for doing so is available on the Department’s website and must be filled in with details of the type of fertiliser, the date of movement, the nutrient content of the fertiliser, the quantity moved and the total kilogrammes of both N and P.