Nitrates records in relation to the movement of organic fertiliser, temporary movement of animals during the year or short-term rental grazing agreements (Records 3, 4, 5 forms) must be submitted by 31 December 2017.

The Department advises that these forms are particularly important for farmers wishing to avail of such agreements in order to ensure compliance with the limits of the nitrates regulations, thus avoiding penalties for breaching the limits of 170kg of nitrogen per hectare or for those who hold an approved derogation, 250kg of nitrogen per hectare.

Only records received before the deadline can be taken into account when calculating the nitrate levels for 2017.

Completed forms should be sent to: Nitrates section, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Johnstown Castle Estate, Co Wexford, Y35 PN52.

For those farmers who are registered with www.agfood.ie, nitrogen and phosphorus statements for cattle only are available online.

These statements are beneficial to farmers to assist them to keep within the limits provided for in the nitrates regulations, the Department said.

Farmers not already registered for agfood.ie can do so by logging on to www.agfood.ie and clicking the register button.

Text alerts

In addition to the statements available online, informational SMS text messages issue periodically to farmers registered to receive them from the Department.

Farmers who wish to receive text alerts can do so by clicking the link on the “contact us” section on the home page of the Department’s website at www.agriculture.gov.ie.

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