Farmers are facing a raft of new measures to comply with under proposals for the new Nitrates Action Plan for 2018 to 2021. They include changes to farm roadways to prevent direct run-off from farm roadways to watercourses, fencing livestock back 1.5m from any watercourse and keeping water troughs at least 20m from waters.
Farmers are facing a raft of new measures to comply with under proposals for the new Nitrates Action Plan for 2018 to 2021.
They include changes to farm roadways to prevent direct run-off from farm roadways to watercourses, fencing livestock back 1.5m from any watercourse and keeping water troughs at least 20m from waters.
Under proposals published by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and the Department of Agriculture last Friday, farmers would have until 2021 to comply with the proposed new rules.
Roadways
The rule on farm roadways could affect 21,700km of farm roads on 15,500 dairy farms. Farmers would be required to modify roadways to prevent runoff by cambering the road or lining it with an earthen bank.
Depending on the work required, this could cost anything from hundreds to thousands of euro.
Similarly, runoff from poached land is recognised as a potential issue, and a recommendation for farmers to avoid poaching –similar to that in the Good Agriucultural Environmental Practice that governs cross-compliance – will be introduced to the next nitrates programme.
The proposals on fencing of waterways and location of cattle troughs will apply to more than 12,300 farmers stocked over 170kg N/ha.
There are no plans to change the closed period for slurry spreading, but the window for autumn P application on tillage crops is to be extended to the end of October.
Pig slurry
There will also be a provision to allow intensively stocked farms (over 170kgN/ha) to import pig slurry for use on paddocks with a low phosphorus index (P1 or P2)
The IFA’s environment chair Thomas Cooney said the measures would put extra cost on farmers and affect their competitiveness.
However, he welcomed the proposal to increase phosphorous allowances for soils with P indexes of one and two.
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