Some concerns from farmers thinking about, or in the process of transitioning to organic production has centred around growing enough grass without chemical fertilisers.
During a webinar on converting beef housing to organic standards held by Teagasc during the week, quite a few questions from farmers tuning in related to what the rules are in terms of importing slurry from other farms to ensure enough grass is grown.
The point was made by some farmers that they wouldn’t produce enough farmyard manure or slurry to fertilise land and keep grass growing throughout the grazing season, and were curious to what the regulation was in relation to importing slurry from other farms.
Taking on this question, Teagasc organic specialist, Joe Kelleher said: “First off, yes you can import slurry onto your farm as long as it is coming from a grass-based system.
“So pig slurry and poultry manure would not be permitted to import in and spread.
“But slurry from cattle enterprises, so dairy and beef, and farmyard manure coming from such grass-based systems is fine to spread on organic farms.
“Another important point here to make however is that along with not being able to import slurry from confinement systems such as pig and poultry, this also includes farms that operate confined cattle systems.
“An example for such would be a dairy confinement system, which aren’t typical but are out there.
“Organic enterprises aren’t permitted to import slurry from fully confinement-run systems full stop – and as such includes cattle confinement systems,” he added.
“So basically, as long as it is a grass-based system, there is no issue importing slurry from one that is grass-based.”