Pig farmers are seeking clarification of the new nitrates regulations and their possible effect on the capacity of land to tackle pig slurry.

The rules increase the amount of organic phosphorus that high-output land can take, but reduce the P allowance for low-output grassland. A further change sees the amount of available phosphorus reduced to 50%. However, this only applies to land that has been soil-tested within four years.

Those pig farms in tillage areas will, if anything, have more land potentially available to them, but pig farms in grassland areas, particularly the northeast, fear that some of the land that currently utilizes pig slurry will be restricted by the changed regulations. IFA meet with Teagasc to discuss these concerns on Friday.