Farmer Writes: no point saying no to an inspector

It seems to be my time for inspections at the minute.

I had a Department of Agriculture official ring me last Monday afternoon to ask if it would be ok to come and do a nitrates inspection on Wednesday morning.

I sheepishly said yes, as a bit like when you’re dealing with the guards - there’s no point saying no to a Department inspector.

I rapidly tried to think to myself what kind of shape the place was in and what potential pitfalls might be awaiting me.

Thankfully, I needn’t have worried. Again, like the guards or politicians or traffic wardens or maybe football referees, Department of Agriculture officials can be prone to getting a bit of bad press from time to time, but I have to say this man was 100%, I couldn’t say a bad word about him.

He arrived, did what he had to do, was pleasant and respectful at all times, as I was to him. Thankfully, everything was in order.

Perhaps I wouldn’t be as complementary if he had found a problem - who knows, but thankfully he didn’t. I suppose it's important to remember that these people are only out trying to do a job, they’re not out to get anyone.

Guidelines

They generally have to follow a certain set of guidelines and if they do find a problem, hopefully it’s something that can be sorted without too much difficulty. Margins are tight on farm and nobody wants to have to face a penalty to their payments.

But having said that, I think most farmers will have a fair idea before the inspector arrives if they have a potential issue on the farm or not. Common sense and a bit of respect on both sides can go a long way when people are dealing with others, no matter who they are. Unfortunately, they say that common sense is not that common anymore. So that's the first inspection out of the way.

Bord Bia

The next one is due next Friday and that’s my Bord Bia quality assurance inspection. As usual, everything is left to the last minute and I’m now frantically trying to fill in the necessary paperwork and so on.

I have the Herdwatch app on my phone and I am fairly good at entering information when I buy and administer animal remedies, which takes up a good bit of the records needed for the inspection.

So, it should just be a matter of running and printing off the report in order to harvest the data. My farm has been Bord Bia quality assured now for about 13 years and I’ve always been reasonably ok at keeping the records.

Before the app, I used to keep a notebook in the medicine cabinet. Every time I bought or administered animal remedies, I would write in the book, but then I’d spend night after night coming up to the audit transferring the information into the Bord Bia book.

Thankfully, now, all that work is eliminated. Technology is a wonderful thing.