Roughly one in every 30 fertiliser samples taken by the Department of Agriculture at chemical fertiliser manufacturers and blenders yards last year for testing proved to have been non-compliant with the fertiliser quality standards laid down in law.
The Department’s fertiliser inspection programme took a total of 188 fertiliser samples and subjected them to 435 individual tests in 2025, a Department spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal.
These test results determined that 3.2% of the samples were out-of-tolerance with the legal standards after a measurement of uncertainty had been taken into account.
These non-compliances resulted in six letters issuing to fertiliser manufacturers or blenders.
2025’s non-compliance rate was on-par with previous years’ inspection and testing findings; around 2% of samples were out-of-tolerance in 2024, the year prior found issue with 3.3% of samples and 2022 saw 3.2% of samples being non-compliant.
One of the non-compliances came about due to protected urea not having a sufficient content of the ingredient added to protect the product.
“Corrective actions on out-of-tolerance results and approval of product batches occur as part of an overall control programme of compliance across the sector to maintain confidence in fertiliser quality,” the spokesperson said.
SHARING OPTIONS