merrion street

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has announced that Cattle Only Nitrogen and Phosphorus statements (N&P Statements) for the period 1st January to 31st July 2022 (cattle only) are now available on the Department’s online system www.agfood.ie.  

These statements are useful to allow farmers to plan for the coming year and to ensure compliance with the limits of the Nitrates Regulations, thus avoiding penalties for breaching the limits of 170 kgs of Nitrogen per hectare or the limit for those who hold an approved derogation is 250 kgs of Nitrogen per hectare. Effective from 9th March 2022, the maximum stocking rate permitted for commonage is 50kg N/ha with no chemical nitrogen permitted. 

Measures all farmers can take to avoid exceeding the nitrates limits of 170 kg/ha (or 250 kg/ha for derogation holders) include: 

• Renting additional land.
• Reducing livestock numbers.
• Exporting enough slurry/farmyard manure and declare the movement on-line.

Farmers not already registered for agfood.ie can do so by logging onto www.agfood.ie and clicking the 'Register' button. More information is available on the Department’s website at the following link: https://www.gov.ie/en/service/department-of-agriculture-and-foods-online-services/#agfood.ie 

Further information on Nitrates and a demonstration video on how to use the on-line slurry movements system is available here; 

ENDS