New Nitrates Regulation Measures Present Further Challenges for Farmers – IFA
IFA Environment Chair John Murphy said that the additional measures signed into law this week as part of the interim review of the fifth Nitrates Action Programme will further add to the challenges and complexity of nutrient management on farms.
“Farmers are committed to playing their part to improve water quality and have made significant changes to management practices under the current programme, but the pace of regulatory change in a major concern,” John Murphy said.
“The constantly evolving regulatory and non-regulatory measures is adding significantly to the pressure on farms. We now need a period of stability with no further regulations to provide farmers greater certainty to be able to plan and provide time for the measures to deliver improvements in water quality and their impact quantified,” he said.
“The 5% reduction in the maximum nitrogen allowance on grassland is going to present challenges for farmers and will require many to take steps to improvement nitrogen management through improved grazing management and utilisation of organic nutrient in order for production to be maintained,” John Murphy said.
He said that IFA had strongly opposed the extension of the maximum organic nitrogen (N) limit of 220kg/ha to include additional areas in the EPA Targeting Agricultural Measures Map from the 1st December 2025 as its potential to improve water quality is not clear.
“This measure should have been considered as part of the deliberations that are ongoing for the next Nitrates Action Programme, and it is IFA’s view that the introduction of this measure is, at best, premature,” he added.
IFA’s Environment Chair said that measures such as the changes to nutrient excretion rates for young bovines and the option to reduce crude protein in concentrates fed to dairy cows, which are based on the latest scientific data, will provide some relief but the extension of the maximum organic nitrogen (N) limit of 220kg/ha in some areas will have major cost implications for the farmers affected.
Another new measure introduced as part of the review is the requirement to notify the movement/export of organic nutrients between holdings within four days of the movement occurring.
John Murphy acknowledged that greater oversight was needed but raised serious concerns that the timeframe provided is too restrictive and would be a significant operational and administrative challenge, particularly for pig farmers.
In addition to this, IFA continues to oppose the imposition of a complete ban on straight urea until farmer concerns relating to the efficacy of protected urea are fully dealt with.
He concluded that work is ongoing on the development of proposals for the sixth Nitrates Action Programme and said that it is essential that socio-economic impacts of the proposed measures are fully considered.
“Farmers are committed to improving water quality, but they need to have confidence that the full implications of the proposed measures on their business are being considered by Government. There needs to be greater certainty and consistency over the full term of the programme so farmers can effectively plan and make any necessary investments,” the IFA Environment Chair said.
