A petition signed by hundreds of farmers in north Co. Tipperary calling for the splash plate ban to be deferred has been presented to Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) Martin Heydon.
A delegation from the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) met with Minister Heydon who has responsibility for farm safety in Tipperary yesterday (Tuesday, November 5).
They highlighted their opposition to the ban on health and safety, economic and environmental grounds.
The group also pointed to a derogation allowing the use of splash plates in the southern states of Germany where the use of low emission slurry spreading equipment (LESS) is “impossible or unreasonable due to natural or agricultural structural characteristics”.
Splash plate ban
From January 1, 2025, more farmers will be prohibited from using splash plates to spread slurry on their farms under the Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters Regulations.
The purpose of these regulations is to give effect to Ireland’s Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) which aims to protect water against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources.
This change means that low emission slurry spreading equipment (LESS) must be used for the application of slurry on farms with stocking rates of 100kg of nitrogen per hectare from grazing livestock manure or above prior to export of livestock manure from the holding from January 1, 2025.
Hundreds of farmers who attended an IFA meeting in Upperchurch, Co. Tipperary last month raised major concerns about the ban.
They believe that enforcing the use of heavier LESS equipment poses a health and safety risk when it comes to spreading slurry on hilly areas.
Tipperary North IFA chair Baden Powell, who was part of the delegation that met with Minister Heydon yesterday, told Agriland that deferring the ban would allow time for alternatives to be considered for upland areas.
He said he hopes the minister would look favourably on the concerns raised by the farmers in the Tipperary region.
Agriland has contacted Minister Heydon’s office for response.