All fertiliser manufacturers have agreed to print the date of manufacture on bags of protected urea, the Department of Agriculture has confirmed.

Speaking at a BASF event in the Horse and Jockey Hotel last week, both a Department official and a representative from the Irish Fertiliser Manufacturers’ and Blenders’ Association (IFMBA) said there has been widespread agreement in the industry to print the date of manufacture on bags of protected urea.

Sheila Nolan, head of the Department division responsible for fertiliser regulation, confirmed all fertiliser companies were onboard.

“The date of manufacturing, that has been agreed by all the manufacturers, not just IFMBA members,” she said.

Responding to a question from the floor, Kieran Murphy, representing the IFMBA, said manufactures would print a date of manufacture, but not a use-by date.

“I think the industry has accepted the need for a date of manufacture.

“Not for a best-before date, but at least a date of manufacture on all the packaging,” he said.

Code

Most fertilisers have a batch code and this does indicate the year and date of manufacture.

For example, a code such as 2024300 would indicate that the fertiliser was bagged on 27 October 2024, as that is the 300th day of the year.

However, these batch codes also contain other numbers, such as factory code and batch ingredients, or batch numbers that day. The shelf-life of a urease inhibitor varies from six to 12 months, depending on the brand used.

Underperformance of urea in 2024

On the underperformance of urea in 2024, Teagasc researcher Dr David Wall said the impact of last year’s weather cannot be discounted.

“In the last year, a lot of the issues related to urea, some of it was fair enough and was real. Some of it was perceived, I would say and down to weather.

“Underperformance in the field is one thing, striping is a whole other thing. We need to divorce those two issues from one another.

“The weather factor and the loss of tonnes [of DM] in the second half of the year was a real phenomenon, irrespective of which product.

“There has been a growth in the area of protected urea and there have been a lot of newcomers to protected urea or urea, for that matter.

“That has probably manifested itself in terms of the only thing they changed in 2024 was they moved to urea or protected urea and they had an issue in terms of growth.

“That was one issue and reality that was out there, and urea or protected urea got the blame,” said Dr Wall.