The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed that the four-day rule for slurry movements will come into force from the start of next year.
It means that farmers exporting slurry to stay within nitrates limits will have to adhere to this requirement to verify movements from farm-to-farm
The change was flagged by the department earlier this year as part of a suite of proposals to improve water quality as part of a review of the Nitrates Action Plan (NAP).
According to DAFM the four day window will enable its officials to carry out inspections and to “verify slurry movements”.
This change will verify the actual amounts of slurry being moved with the quantities notified to DAFM, preventing disproportionate loads of nutrients being applied on some lands which can damage water quality.
Farmers are currently required to notify DAFM of slurry movements, and the receiving farmer also has to verify on the department’s AgFood system that they did receive the slurry.
Slurry
It had been anticipated that the four-day rule would have been put in place shortly after the announcement from DAFM earlier this year.
In correspondence with farmers and advisors this week, the department confirmed that the four-day rule will now come into force at the start of 2025.
“From January 1, 2025 all exports of organic nutrients will have to be notified to the department of agriculture within 4 days of the movement occurring.
“Importers who receive an organic nutrients between January 1 and June 30 2025, must verify the movement by July 14 2025, and importers receiving organic nutrients from July 1 to December 31, 2025, must verify by the movement by January 14, 2026,” the department said.
Meanwhile, DAFM also said that all farmers, including those in derogation, must declare an export of organic nutrients for 2024 before midnight on December 31, 2024.
The final date for all importers to verify such movements is before midnight on January 14, 2025.