Over 8,000 farmers who applied for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s (DAFM’s) Soil Sampling and Analysis Programme have missed out on a place.
The pilot programme was launched last September by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue.
According to a statement from DAFM, the pilot scheme was “heavily oversubscribed“.
The total number of applications for the programme surpassed 15,800 farmers, while just over 7,800 farmers were accepted into the programme.
According to the department, “acceptance into the programme was on a ‘first-come first-served’ basis within each Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics 3 (NUTS 3) region and enterprise type therein, reflecting the national spread of farms in the country”.
Sampling progress
Commenting on how the sampling is progressing on the farms of applicants who did manage to gain entry to the programme, the department’s statement explained: “Over 3,000 soil samples are being taken per week at present, and soil sampling will continue over the coming months.”
While the sampling is set to continue over the coming months, the general advice is that farmers should avoid sampling fields that received phosphorous (P) or potassium (K) in the last three months and so, this may make sampling ineffective on many fields set to receive a spring application of fertiliser or distort the results of fields which have received fertiliser and are sampled.
How will it benefit farmers?
According to DAFM, the incentive of the programme for the farmer is to receive “comprehensive soil analysis reports with next generation data which, along with advisory support, will be used as a soil management tool on the farm”.
Farmers do not receive a monetary payment for the programme, however the soil sampling programme, at field scale, will provide the basis for soil-specific nutrient management advice and “underpin targeted fertiliser and organic manure applications,” according to the department.
The programme is aimed at putting soil carbon, soil health and fertility at the centre of Ireland’s future agricultural model and a total of €10 million was allocated to the programme by DAFM.