The Arrabawn Farming for Water farm event took place today (Wednesday, September 4) on Eoin Toohey’s farm in Moneygall, Co. Offaly, and”improving our waterways in an effort to retain the derogation “was the key focus.
Speaking at today’s event, Arrabawn chair, Edward Carr, told attendees that “for every aspect of the dairy industry, retaining the derogation is number one”.
“Without the derogation, we wouldn’t have the industry we have today, which means we all have a role to play and by working together.
“I firmly believe that we can get a successful outcome,” he added.
Toohey’s farm is located in the Ballyfinboy area, which is a priority area for action for the Arrabawn river catchment water quality improvement project.
The four pillars of the Ballyfinboy project are as follows:
- Improvement of water quality in the catchment;
- Demonstration of best farming practices that will achieve good water quality;
- Showcase work carried out on farms under the water EIP;
- Good water quality benefits everyone.
The farm walk had four different stands which had speakers from Arrabawn, the Local Authority Water’s Programme (LAWPRO), AGNAV, Teagasc and Tipperary county council.
Arrabawn farming for water
At the first stand, Ruth Hennessy of LAWPRO, talked attendees through the catchment science and how it is delivering water quality improvements.
The Ballyfinboy catchment area is too high in phosphorus (P) in the upper section. There is a risk of sediment and P losses from poorly draining soils and this means that interception measures such as tree planting need to be implemented.
Nitrogen (N) concentrations are to high in the Ballyfinboy river, as N losses are occurring from freely draining soils throughout the catchment.
Hennessy emphasised that farmers need to soil test, feed low crude protein feeds and have an appropriate distribution of nutrients across the landholding.
Separately during the event today Kate Tynan of LAWPRO also outlined details of the €60 million locally led agri-environmental project to protect water quality while Carr urged everyone to “use up the funding available from the EIP (European Innovation Partnership).
He said: “If we don’t use up the funding, it’s only going to get sent back.
” All the small actions that we can use from the funding will make that difference.”
Tynan highlighted where the key areas are that farmers can easily improve around the yard and how the adoption of a rainwater management plan can make a serious difference.
Meanwhile Gillian Delahunty of Tipperary County Council also set out to attendees the importance of reducing nutrient loss from farms and that farm inspections are “not out to get” the farmers, but are there to improve water and secure the derogation.
She highlighted the importance of a well designed farmyard with good storage facilities, and appropriate effluent run-off.
Delahunty also specified that “when you are inspected and there are things that have to be improved, we give you time to get a few things sorted”.
At his stand ASSAP advisor, David Webster today discussed the different nutrient loss pathways and how farmers can reduce these losses.
He said that the number one point is to have your soil tested and have a nutrient management plan in place followed by appropriate and sensible spreading procedures.
He emphasised the importance of having a fence 1.5m away from the river or drain, 3m away when you are spreading chemical fertiliser and 5m away when you are spreading slurry.
This does not apply all year-round and he urged attendees to spread when the conditions are right and that “you should not be forced out with slurry which means your capacity has to be sufficient”.
The final stand at today’s Farming for Water event delivered a run down on the importance of AGNAV, an online sustainability platform for farmers and advisors which provides an environmental performance of individual farms.
The platform records all the inputs and outputs of an individual farm and gives the farmer back a decision support tool “to identify potential measures and creates a tailored farm sustainability action plan”.
Overall the main message of the day was succinctly summed up by Arrabawn chair, Edward Carr.
He stressed that in order for Ireland to retain is derogation, “it is not what we can do, it is what we have to do”.