The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has published a “baseline map” specifically setting out the areas where the nitrates derogation will be reduced.
The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue, said today (Tuesday, October 3) that the map provides “clarity” to derogation farmers impacted as a result of the recent water quality review.
Minister McConalogue said: “I recognise that this is a challenging outcome for some farmers.
“I have been consistent with my aim to quickly provide clarity to affected farmers to give them as much time as possible to put plans in place as appropriate to their farm enterprises.”
As required by the European Commission, under the terms of Ireland’s derogation under the Nitrates Derogation, the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) carried out an interim review of water quality earlier this year.
The EPA published its “Water Quality Monitoring Report on Nitrogen and Phosphorus Concentrations in Irish waters 2022” in June.
This had contained a “red” map indicating where farms would have to reduce their rate of organic manure nitrogen from 250kg N/ha to 220kg N/ha.
DAFM has confirmed that no additional lands are included in its new interactive map which is now available online.
However according to the department “the Implementation Map area has been reduced by approximately 6%”.
It is understood that this reduction in impacted land area could mean that in the region of 232 farmers who previously would have seen their derogation drop to 220kgN/ha may no longer be impacted.
DAFM has now published the map on-line for farmers to be able to “scrutinise” and establish if they farm within the boundary of the final map.
According to DAFM the blue shaded area is where the “maximum stocking rate of 220 kg livestock manure nitrogen per hectare applies for Nitrates Derogation holdings in these areas for 2024.”
While the non shaded area is the rest of the country is where the “maximum stocking rate of 250 kg livestock manure nitrogen per hectare applies for Nitrates Derogation holdings in these areas for 2024”.
DAFM has confirmed that a number of derogation farms will have lands in both the 250kg/ha area and the 220kg/ha areas.
“The limit on these farms will be calculated on a parcel-by-parcel basis and where any part of the parcel is within the areas identified at the 250 kg limit, the whole parcel will be subject to this higher limit,” the department confirmed.
EPA
The EPA had previously stated in its June report that the commission would require by January 1, 2024, that derogation farms located within the specific area “reduce their application rate of manure from a maximum of 250kg nitrogen/ha per year to 220kg nitrogen/ha per year.”
As part of that report, the EPA had published its ‘red map’ – indicating the large swathes of the country where the derogation would have to be reduced.
The government is required to submit a finalised map to the European Commission, indicating those areas where the derogation will be cut to 220kgN/ha.
DAFM has stated that its published map “will be the final map”.
The department has also said it will write to derogation farmers in the coming weeks “to confirm the reduction from 250 to 220 and provide any information relevant to the changes”.
It has also urged farmers to engage with their agricultural advisors in order to be informed about “the best option or combination of options available to them to adjust to any changes at farm level”.