A farm organisation is calling for new rules requiring farmers with stocking rates below 130kg of organic nitrogen (N) per hectare to use low-emission slurry spreading (LESS) equipment to be deferred.
From January 1, 2025, farms with stocking rates between 100kgN/ha and 130kgN/ha will be required to spread slurry using LESS equipment.
Many of the farmers that will be affected by this change currently use splash plates, and will have to upgrade their equipment.
However, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has claimed that this regulation is neither viable or necessary.
The IFA is calling for the change to be deferred and reviewed.
Declan Hanrahan, the association’s national livestock chair, said that the majority of farms in the affected cohort are small scale dry stock farmers operating on “smaller and often very fragmented holdings on difficult ground”.
“The options available to meet the requirements set by government for these farms are not practical, economically viable, or even safe to use,” he claimed.
“Minister for Agriculture (Food and the Marine) Charlie McConalogue and his government colleagues must defer implementation of this requirement and review the necessity of this additional and unnecessary cost burden on these vulnerable farm sectors,” Hanrahan added.
“In terms of reducing ammonia emissions and good nutrient management practices, the department needs to come forward with sensible and practical arrangements for farmers on these lower-stocked and smaller-scale farms.
According to Hanrahan, the trailing shoe and dribble bars are not viable options for these farms, as they are “unsafe and economically prohibitive”.
He said that the IFA has raised this issue with “senior” officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
“[The issue] must be resolved. Small-scale dry stock farmers cannot be forced down this path, particularly when tools suitable for their farming conditions are not available,” Hanrahan said.
Farmers can avail of 60% grant aid for purchasing the new equipment as part of the LESS Scheme under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS).
For LESS, the maximum amount of investment eligible for grant-aid under the scheme is €40,000/holding.
However, in the case of a joint application by two or more eligible partners under a registered farm partnership, the maximum eligible investment ceilings referred to above shall be increased to €60,000.