The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed that interim bovine nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) statements are now available.

These statements are for the period from January 1 to August 31, 2026.

They have been published on the department’s online system, MyAgFood. Announcing publication of the interim statements, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon said: “Provision of interim nitrates data is a key tool provided by my department to assist farmers to comply with their regulatory limits.

DAFM said a small minority of dairy farmers who have not confirmed their herd’s dairy cow band for 2026 have been defaulted to the highest band of 106kg N/cow.  

As per previous communication from the department to these farmers, in the event that the highest band is not appropriate, they should confirm the correct band for their herd.

The best way to do this is through the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation (ICBF) website. The department said appropriate adjustments have been applied to interim N and P statements for dairy farmers that have opted to receive recognition for managing crude protein in the concentrates fed to their cows.

Real-time figures

The department also confirmed that it is currenting developing approaches for real-time nitrates figures to be made available on MyAgFood shortly.

These developments will allow future statements and projections to be made on MyAgFood that will include ovine as well as bovine nitrates data.

Farmers will be notified in due course when these figures are available.

For anyone attending the National Ploughing Championships, department officials will be able to share the interim statement with the respective herdowner if they call to the DAFM stand at block 3, row 7, stand 134.