Over 55,000 soil samples taken under pilot programme

Over 55,000 samples have been taken under the pilot Soil Sampling and Analysis Programme, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has confirmed.

Sampling officially began on farms at the start of November 2021. Up to March 28, 2022, 51,148 standard soil samples were collected, with a further 4,328 soil samples taken for E.coli analysis.

Over the five month period, 55,476 soil samples were taken overall.

The implementation of the scheme was previously branded as a “shambles” by the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) as it stated that there was a failure to organise timely soil sampling for those accepted into the programme.

In a statement to Agriland, DAFM noted that this is “a very ambitious programme which requires a great deal of resources and logistics”.

The programme is being delivered by a consortium led by UK-based company Cawood Scientific Limited.

The department said that a “significant amount of laboratory analytical equipment had to be purchased and installed by the service provider to support the pilot project”.

“In cases, the proposed lead times were not met. This was further compounded by Covid-19 protocols and engineer availability delaying installation and commissioning of the equipment in some cases,” DAFM stated.

Covid-19 has also impacted sampling and analytical work under the programme.

In response to the delays, the service provider allocated “more financial and human resources to the project”. DAFM said that the laboratory worked seven days a week to accelerate analysis.

The average turnaround time from sampling for the results issued in the week to March 28, 2022 was 44 days.

The department stated that sampling has been prioritised on tillage farms and more intensive livestock farms as well as farms in “earlier” parts of the country.

This has allowed sampling to continue with over 300 farms sampled in the week to March 28.

DAFM said that due to the seasonal application of fertiliser in the coming weeks sampling will likely be suspended until the autumn but laboratory analysis will continue.

“Payments to the service provider will also continue in line with the agreed services contract,” the department added.

The sampling contract issued to farmers approved under the programme runs until December 31, 2022. As a result, farmers who have not sampled their land before the scheme is suspended will have another opportunity to do so in the autumn.

Soil sampling programme

In total, 15,820 applications were received by the department for the €10 million pilot scheme. Of these, 7,879 were approved to participate in the programme.

Cork had the highest number of successful applicants at 869, followed by Galway on 766 and Donegal with 547.

A full county-by-county breakdown of the total number of applicants to the pilot scheme and those who were successful is available below.

DAFM explained that applicants were selected for the programme on a first-come first-serve basis with “additional steps to ensure appropriate geographic and sectoral spread”.