A “far higher” grant for slurry storage needs to be made available to all farmers because it is currently “looking like” there will not be enough slurry storage capacity, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association (ICSA) has warned.
Slurry storage requirements, depending on where farms are located range from 16 to 22 weeks, but the ICSA has said that farmers are increasingly under pressure in relation to slurry storage because of recent wet weather patterns.
A particularly early winter last year has also resulted in some farmers struggling to find extra storage capacity,
But according to the ICSA it is a difficult decision for farm families to consider investing in additional slurry storage capacity at a time “when interest rates are no longer low, construction costs have rocketed and the Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Schemes (TAMs) is broken”.
The president of the ICSA, Sean McNamara has questioned how low-income beef and suckler farmers especially can be expected to invest in additional storage when their “income is not enough to cover repayments”.
McNamara told the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine this week that the ICSA believes it is time for the minister for agriculture to take on board the recommendations of the Agriculture Water Quality Working Group to increase the rate of grant for slurry storage.
“A 70% grant was announced in the budget for tillage farms importing slurry – we think this should apply to all farms.
“It is far more practical in most cases to store the slurry where the animals are kept,” McNamara said.
ICSA
The ICSA was one of a number of farm organisations who gave evidence to the Oireachtas committee this week on the nitrates directive.
The organisation stressed that if there was a further decrease to Ireland’s nitrates derogation to 170 organic nitrogen (N) per hectare this “would undermine our grass-based system and the competitive advantage we have compared to our EU neighbours”.
It also warned of the impact on the profitability of family farms and the availability of land for active cattle, sheep and tillage farmers.
McNamara also added: “A reduction to 170 would likely undermine the prospects for many young people who would question the economics of full-time farming”.
Slurry spreading
He told the committee that farmers are “increasingly frustrated by more and more complexity and rules which are hard to keep up with” in relation to the Nitrates Action Programme (NAP).
McNamara said these included “deadlines for slurry spreading, the new rules on soiled water, the new rules on trailed shoe, the new maximums on chemical fertiliser and the new fertiliser database”.
He said there was a “huge commitment by farmers to do more” but “they needed better research information, delivered in a timely manner”.
“It’s not fair to expect farmers to know how to deal with adverse conditions when the advisory service (Teagasc) is also struggling to cope.
“I think farmers are very committed to improvement but for many, the economics of investment don’t stack up without better supports,” the ICSA president outlined.