For dairy farmers, the draft of Ireland’s sixth nitrates action programme (NAP) contains some significant, albeit not unexpected, new rules for slurry storage and soiled water storage.
The minimum slurry storage required increases by 21% from to 0.4m3 per week. The minimum soiled water storage will increase by 43% to 0.3m3 per week.
The changes are based on Teagasc research conducted on 100 Irish farms between July 2023 and March 2025.
The additional slurry storage requirement must be in place by October 2028, according to the draft proposals that will now undergo public consultation.
Extra storage on farms will reduce the tank pressure that sees some farmers forced into spreading some slurry very early or late in the permitted periods, when grass growth and nutrient uptake is minimal.
Spreading slurry by necessity rather than by choice is a waste of valuable nutrients, so farmers will acknowledge that more slurry storage will benefit both their farms and the environment.
Nonetheless, this extra storage will require major financial investment on their part. Martin Merrick has calculated that the additional storage will cost a 100-cow dairy farmer €21,000 to build, excluding slats or a roof.
In their draft text, the departments of housing and agriculture commit to supporting this additional storage via grant aid – subject to the available budget.
Farmers will need a much more concrete commitment, pardon the pun, than ‘subject to the available budget’ before they will shell out thousands of euros.
The Government must fully commit to strong financial support for this structural work on farms, but also in terms of speedy grant approvals and drawdowns, and timely grant costings reviews.
The promised planning exemptions for certain manure storage, which are expected to be legislated for in the Planning and Development Regulations, are welcome.
Farmers on fragmented farms will be required to prove that slurry is being spread on the out-blocks, or face a cut to their nitrogen allowance on the milking platform.
Again, this promotes good use of nutrients and should make financial and farm management sense to farmers who are not currently doing so.
All that said, the reality for many farmers is that there will be no point in investing heavily in additional slurry storage unless Ireland is successful in retaining its nitrates derogation.
There won’t be a tank built until that decision is known.
Jessika Roswall, European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy is due to visit Ireland on Friday 7 November, at the invitation of Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon.
The goal is to show the commissioner the extent of work being done by Irish farmers and the wider industry to improve water quality.
Nitrates meeting
The IFA’s nitrates meeting in Fermoy next Monday 3 November is expected to have cross-party support from other farm organisations and industry bodies to highlight the very real cost of a potential derogation loss.
As Teagasc research has shown, losing the derogation would require a 200,000-cow reduction, and cost Ireland almost €1bn per year in export revenue. That message must be conveyed loudly and clearly by Ireland to Brussels.
For tillage farmers, the draft of Ireland’s sixth NAP features a revision of what had been proposed for tillage farmers as both science and practicalities were taken into account.
The stubble cultivation rules which placed huge strain and stress on tillage farmers have now been removed, and not before time. The rules were introduced without considering their impact on wildlife that depend on over-winter stubble for their habitats.
Research into the impact of stubble cultivation on endangered species began after the rules were introduced, but those rules are now poised to be scrapped.
The proposal to prevent the spreading of high nitrogen organic manure on winter cereal area is also expected to be shelved. This change of heart was presumably made when the practical requirement to dispose of chicken and pig manure was realised.
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