A black market for fertiliser has developed as a result of the new Department of Agriculture fertiliser register, the Acorn group of independent merchants has claimed.

Farmers in the Republic are buying fertiliser directly from Northern Ireland merchants, specifically to side-step the requirement to register the purchases, Acorn CEO Barry Larkin told the Irish Farmers Journal.

“Essentially, the fertiliser database has created a black market for the trade of fertiliser, similar to coal and bale wrap,” said Larkin.

“A northern business can collect fertiliser from any southern port, for it to then be delivered to a farmer within 50km of the port and repeat the exercise endlessly,” the Acorn CEO maintained. “This season, it’s commonplace to see northern-registered lorries delivering fertiliser to all counties in the south,” he added.

‘Blacken imports’

While Larkin’s allegation was backed up by some fertiliser importers, a number of farmers and advisers disputed that the purchase of ‘off the record’ fertiliser was widespread.

“It is in the interests of merchants and the fertiliser industry to blacken [unregistered] imports from the north,” one farmer commented.

However, Larkin insisted that the fertiliser database had resulted in a two-tier market developing, where farmers bought product ‘on the record’ or ‘off the record’.