The Department of Agriculture released a statement on Wednesday targeted at farmers availing of or thinking of applying to a nitrates derogation in 2022.

The statement reminded 2021 nitrates derogation participants that they need to prepare fertiliser accounts and also informed farmers that the deadline to submit fertiliser accounts and apply for a nitrates derogation in 2022 has been pushed out until 14 April.

The reasoning behind the later deadline relates to the fact that Ireland’s Nitrates Action Programme is currently under review with the European Commission and is not yet finalised.

The Department of Agriculture expects a decision by the EU Commission in mid-March.

A spokesperson for the Department said: “Considering this, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has confirmed that, subject to the new Nitrates Action Programme being approved, the 2022 nitrates derogation will open for applications in mid-March and the normal closing date will be extended to 14 April 2022.”

The statement adds that completed fertiliser accounts for 2021 will be able to be submitted on-line once that system opens.

The Department advises the relevant form for completing 2021 fertiliser accounts is now available online at www.gov.ie.

N and P statements

The end of year nitrogen and phosphorus statements, commonly known as N and P statements, have also been finalised for the period January to December 2021 and are available to view through the Department’s agfood.ie facility.

The Department advises that some documentation which was submitted after the 31 December deadline for submitting records relating to the import and export of organic fertilisers, grazing agreements etc are not yet included in these N and P statements and “will be processed in due course”.

Farmers should also note that the N and P statements only relate to bovines on the holding and that the organic N and P output from other animals need to be calculated by the farmer themselves.

Derogation applicants

In the region of 6,400 farmers applied for a nitrates derogation in 2021, allowing them to exceed the standard organic nitrogen limit of 170kg N/ha and farm to an upper limit of 250kg N/ha.

There were also in the region of 5,000 farmers that exceeded the limit of 170kg N/ha, but stayed outside of the nitrates derogation process, mainly by means of exporting organic manures.

A number of the rules introduced in recent years for farmers availing of a derogation also apply to farmers operating above 170kg organic N/ha, but not availing of a derogation.

These farmers are waiting anxiously to see if there will be a further narrowing of the rules, while the agricultural industry is watching to see if the Nitrates Action Programme will only be approved for a two-year period, instead of the previous four-year cycle.