The actions set out in a new water quality campaign by Teagasc "must be embraced by all", the president of the Irish Farmers' Association (IFA), Francie Gorman has said.

The Better Farming for Water campaign launched today (Thursday, May 30), aims to support farmers to reduce the amount of nitrogen, phosphate, sediment and pesticides entering Ireland’s river network.

Speaking at the campaign launch today, the IFA president said farmers want to improve water quality and that they will "embrace" the eight "actions for change" set out in the campaign.

The new campaign aims to achieve an improvement in all water bodies in Ireland, where agriculture is a significant pressure, through on-farm adoption of the following actions:

Reduce purchased nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) surplus per hectare;
Ensure soil fertility is optimal for lime, P and potassium (K);
Ensure application of fertiliser and organic manure at appropriate times and conditions;
Have sufficient slurry and soiled water storage capacity;
Manage and minimise nutrient loss from farmyards and roadways;
Fence off watercourses to prevent bovine access;
Promote targeted use of mitigation actions such as riparian margins, buffer strips and sediment traps to mitigate nutrient and sediment loss to water;
Maintain over-winter green cover to reduce nutrient leaching from tillage soils.

"Making more farmers want to do the right thing and making more targeted advice available is a positive step. Everyone needs to get behind it to make it work," Gorman said.

Referring to the particular action of having sufficient slurry storage capacity on farm, Gorman highlighted the issue of ongoing delays under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS).

Delays in TAMS and in the planning process are "slowing farmers down" in carrying out environmental works on their farms, according to the IFA president, who added:

Gorman said that farmers need to be able to develop their farm businesses while improving water quality, and stressed that "reducing farming activity is not the answer".

"The economic and social contribution of farming in rural areas will not be replaced by anything else. That’s why this campaign is so important," the IFA president said.

He also stressed the "importance" of Teagasc being provided with resources to "properly implement" the campaign, which is part of a wider whole-of-government approach to water quality.

"The Department of Agriculture [Food and the Marine] and all arms of the state must also step up to the plate," the IFA president said while commenting on the campaign today.