The Department of Agriculture has said it is working on a “simple and efficient mechanism” to verify what organic nitrogen band each dairy herd will fall into next January.

It says the proposed mechanism will minimise the administrative burden on farmers and allow the earliest possible confirmation of what band each farmer should fall into.

The Department does not have access to milk data so cannot independently assess what band a farm should be in. Separately, ICBF is said to be working on a template for farmers to easily identify their band.

The Department hasn’t confirmed what band farmers who do not engage with it will be in. It was reported in last week’s Irish Farmers Journal that these farmers will be classed as being in the top band, unless they prove otherwise.