Over 90,000 farmers are registered on the National Fertiliser Database which has come into effect today (Friday, September 1), the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) has said.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue welcomed the “fantastic level” of engagement with registration and urged remaining farmers to sign up.
From today, any farmer or other professional fertiliser end user who wishes to purchase fertiliser, including lime, must be registered as a professional fertiliser end user with the DAFM.
Farmers, or their agents can register on agfood.ie. Those farmers involved in the import of fertiliser, farm-to-farm transfers, and/or retail sale of fertiliser must also register as fertiliser economic operators.
Thanking every farmer that has registered for the National Fertiliser Database, Minister McConalogue commented today:
“There has been phenomenal engagement with the new system by farmers and their agents which further demonstrates farmers’ willingness to embrace positive changes.
“Registration is a very simple process. I encourage those who have yet to register to do so as soon as possible to avoid any potential disruption to their farming operations.”
Fertiliser database
The legislative requirements on the sale and import of fertiliser also come into force today. Around 1,000 fertiliser economic operators (merchants and farmers) have registered on the database.
From today all fertiliser imports into the state must be notified to the database within 72 hours of import, and all data on fertiliser transactions must be recorded by fertiliser economic operators.
Department officials will be available at the National Ploughing Championships later this month to assist with any queries or difficulties regarding registration or use of the National Fertiliser Database.
Other key dates of the National Fertiliser Database are as follows:
- September 14, 2023 – Declaration date of closing stocks for professional fertiliser end users;
- September 30, 2023 – Declaration date of closing stocks for fertiliser economic operators;
- October 15, 2023 – Date by which professional fertiliser end users and fertiliser economic operators must submit closing stocks, including NIL stock where relevant, to the National Fertiliser Database;
- December 15, 2023 – Date by which fertiliser economic operators must submit September, October and November 2023 sales data to the National Fertiliser Database;
- January 15, 2024 – Date by which fertiliser economic operators must submit December 2023 sales data to the National Fertiliser Database. All monthly sales data from December 1, 2023 are required to be submitted by the 15th of the subsequent month.
As a transitional measure to facilitate IT development by fertiliser retailers, the September, October and November 2023 sales data must be returned by December 19, 2023.
However, from December 1, 2023, monthly data must be uploaded to the database by the 15th day of the subsequent month, according to the DAFM.