Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has been urged to deliver on flexibilities on the nitrates derogation that are within his power to deliver.
According to the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), the minister has the power to take certain measures that will help farmers impacted by the coming reduction in the nitrates derogation.
From January 1, the upper limit of nitrogen (N) stocking rate under the derogation will fall from 250kgN/ha to 220kgN/ha. Farmers who farm between those stocking rates will have to drop their average stocking rate over the course of next year to 220kgN/ha or less, and in subsequent years also.
ICMSA president Pat McCormack said today (Tuesday, December 5) that, with just over three weeks until impacted farmers were subject to “de facto destocking”, farmers are “still waiting” for the minister to deliver the flexibilities “that he must know are urgently required”.
“Having failed to move the European Commission on the matter, Ireland must focus on those areas where movement is possible on our own part by bringing forward practical solutions to the problems now looming up in front of thousands of farmers,” McCormack said.
He added: “We have a degree of autonomy that must now be utilised to give the most hard-pressed farmers the required breathing space that they are going to desperately need.”
According to he ICMSA, the minister can postpone the onsetting of the 220kgN/ha limit for six months, which the farm organisation said will give farmers the time to make necessary adjustments.
McCormack also called on the minister to disregard the first 100 days of a calf’s life in determining stocking rates.
“The reality facing farmers in 2024 is that every animal will impact on their nitrates levels and it is essential that we provide flexibilities so that calves can be kept for up to 100 days without impacting on a farmer’s stocking level for nitrates purposes,” he said.
He also said that farmers who use low protein concentrate feed during the summer period should be rewarded by a reduction in the N level per cow in each excretion band.
“Updated Teagasc research shows that for every 1% reduction in protein, the amount of N reduces by 2kg for a band 3 cow, so if a farmer cuts the protein percentage by 4%, a cow in band 3 should fall from 106kgN to 98kgN,” the ICMSA president said.
“This reduction in protein content has both water quality and climate change benefits so farmers should be incentivised to make this change.”
The ICMSA also wants to see the figure of the N content of slurry (which was reduced from 5kg/t to 2.4kg/t last year) revised, believing the figure to be incorrect, and that it has “severely hampered” the ability to export slurry.
The farm organisation also called for farmers taking samples of their own slurry to be allowed to use the figure established by an accredited laboratory.
McCormack went on to say that the exclusion of farmers from applying for a derogation for two years where they make “a minor error” is “totally disproportionate”, calling for the rules around such exclusions to be reformed to recognise situations where genuine or minor errors have been made.
He also called for the 70% grant aid for slurry storage facilities for farmers importing slurry, announced in Budget 2024, to be extended to all farmers.
“These are measures that are completely within the gift of the minister and which he can introduce as part of the Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) review,” the outgoing ICMSA president said.
He added: “Minister McConalogue has said he’s up for ideas on what can be done to mitigate the disaster his non-defence has inflicted. The time for talking is over. The minister needs to deliver these measures this week.”