The requirement for intensive farms to meet stringent phosphorus (P) balance limits by 2029 has been dropped from Nutrients Action Programme (NAP) proposals.

The Irish Farmers Journal understands that farmers will instead be given various options to reduce the amount of surplus P on their farms over a longer time period.

This differs from the original proposal from May 2025 which required 3,500 intensive farms in NI to reach a P balance of 10kg/ha/year by 2027, dropping to 8kg/ha/year in 2029.

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Following a backlash over the original NAP plan, Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir agreed to set up a stakeholder group to review the proposals.

Review

The stakeholder group’s work is now complete and new proposals for a revised NAP are set to be published next week ahead of another public consultation.

Other changes to the NAP plan include an overhaul and renaming of the nitrates derogation, and the introduction of banded nitrogen loading rates for dairy cows.

At present, when calculating stocking rates for individual farms, all dairy cows in NI are assumed to excrete 100kg of nitrogen per year.

However, a new banded system would see higher yielding herds assigned increased nitrogen loading rates.

Lower output herds would have a lower nitrogen loading rates per cow and would therefore be able to operate at higher stocking rates.

Whilst the updated NAP proposals are yet to be published in full, several meetings about the new plan took place this week with farmer representatives, industry stakeholders and local politicians.

The initial reaction has been that the new proposals will still require change on local farms, but it is much more workable and to a more realistic timeframe than the original NAP plan from May 2025.