The mandatory cultivation of stubble as a condition of the nitrates derogation is “still unworkable” despite recent changes to legislation, according to the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA).
Kieran McEvoy, the association’s national grain chairperson, said that despite an amendment offering an exemption in certain cases, the requirement to shallow cultivate 85% to 90% of the cereal stubble area is “a very onerous and challenging demand to place on tillage farmers at the busiest time of year”.
“The provision in the legislation for a derogation from post-harvest cultivation is welcome, but fundamentally the requirement to cultivate stubbles seven to 14 days after harvesting is unworkable in this country during the month of August.”
He said that the scientific and meteorological criteria for when a derogation from stubble cultivation will be granted “needs to be defined urgently by the Nitrates Expert Group”.
The Nitrates Expert Group oversees the implementation of the Nitrates Action Programme and the nitrates derogation. It includes representatives from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage; Teagasc; and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The IFA had previously highlighted to the Department of Agriculture what it called the “negative effects mandatory stubble cultivation would have” on the post-harvest management of both oilseed rape stubble and fields with certain grassweed species.
The IFA statement comes just days after BirdWatch Ireland said that the requirement to cultivate stubble on tillage land “could have catastrophic impacts” on farmland birds that use the habitat.
According to BirdWatch Ireland, several farmland bird species that rely on winter stubble are already Red or Amber-listed ‘Birds of Conservation Concern’ and their future is “precarious”.
The group has called on the government to suspend the requirement until research can be carried out to determine the effects they will have on threatened farmland bird species.
“Any proposed legal changes to winter stubble on tillage land must be assessed for impacts on these species [of birds] before being implemented,” BirdWatch Ireland argued.