Farmers in Zone 1 of the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme (SNHS) will receive their full set of detailed reports next week, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) has said.
Over 6,000 farmers in Zone 1, which includes fields in Co. Down and parts of counties Antrim and Armagh, will receive soil analysis results for each of their individual fields.
DAERA said the individual analysis provides farm businesses with important information to help manage soil nutrients and farm carbon as well as allowing them to access some future farm support funding schemes.
Director of the department’s natural environment policy division, Dave Foster, said:
“Thanks to our Soil Nutrient Health Scheme, farmers will have key information on soil nutrient levels for pH, phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg) and sulphur (S), together with crop specific lime and fertiliser recommendations, for each field on their farm.
“A baseline estimate of carbon stored in their soils, hedgerows and trees will also be provided.
“As well as supporting farmers in fighting climate change and meeting the requirements of the Nutrients Action Programme, all this information will help them to increase efficiency and reduce excess run-off into watercourses as they can more accurately match nutrient applications to crop need.”
Loss on Ignition
The full set of results will include Loss on Ignition (Lol) analysis for the first time, DAERA said.
“Loss on Ignition analysis will provide farm businesses with the organic matter content in their soils which AFBI (Agri-food and Biosciences Institute) can then use to estimate the carbon stored in soils on farm.
“Measuring soil organic carbon is important as it can help to inform effective land management, it contributes to the productivity of soils because it benefits soil structure, nutrient cycling and water retention.
“AFBI will use LoI together with estimates of carbon in above ground biomass (trees, hedges etc) to provide whole-farm carbon storage values which may be required as we move towards the net zero target.”
Soil Nutrient Health Scheme
DAERA hopes that SNHS will see a total of 700,000 fields on 24,000 farms getting soil tested.
Foster said that participation in the SNHS will be a requirement for entry into some future farm support schemes and urged farmers to apply once it is available in their areas.
“We are strongly encouraging all farm businesses to apply for the scheme once it is open in your area and benefit from all it has to offer including future funding such as the new Farm Sustainability Payment and Farming with Nature Package which can be crucial income for farms,” he said.
In September, the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) ran events to help farmers in Zone 1 of SNHS interpret their soil analysis results.