The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine released a statement on Friday highlighting that the mandatory deadline of 1 July set for recording imports and exports of organic fertilisers has now been delayed until 1 September.

As such, Record 3 forms can continue to be used to record movements.

The Department also highlighted that farmers who applied for a nitrates derogation are obliged to declare movements of organic fertilisers by 31 October 2021, while the deadline is 31 December 2021 for all other farmers.

New online system

According to the Department, the new online system for recording movements of organic manures will also update the Department's nitrates and phosphorus (P) statements for each farmer periodically through the year to allow them see the effect an export/import has on their overall (cattle only) nitrogen and phosphorus levels.

A short video demonstrating how to use the system is now available on the Department’s website here.

N and P statements

Nitrogen (N) and P statements for January to May 2021 (cattle only) are now available on the Department’s online system www.agfood.ie.

“These statements are particularly useful to allow farmers to plan for the coming year and to ensure compliance with the limits of the nitrates regulations, thus avoiding penalties for breaching the limits of 170kg of nitrogen per hectare or the limit for those who hold an approved derogation is 250kg of nitrogen per hectare.”