Slurry spreading deadline extended to October 15 for REPS farmers

By Ray Ryan, Agribusiness Correspondent

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

THE slurry spreading deadline for farmers in the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) has been extended from August 31 to October 15 because of the wet weather.

Farmers in REPS 3 were required to have spread all the slurry produced during the winter housing period by August 31.

But Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith agreed to extend the spreading period as a temporary measure.

He said that date is also the deadline in the nitrates regulations and also applies to farmers in REPS 4.

Mr Smith said all REPS farmers and all other farmers remain subject at all times to the overriding obligation to avoid causing pollution.

"Indeed, all good farmers will be even more conscious at the moment of the increased risk of inadvertently causing water pollution and they will be taking special care to avoid it," he said.

While welcoming the decision, Irish Farmers Association environment chairman, Pat Farrell, said flaws exist in the nitrates regulations which must be changed urgently.

The most nonsensical of these is the waste of taxpayers’ money when both county council staff and the Department of Agriculture officials go onto farms and inspect the exact same nitrates regulations issues, he said.

He said Mr Smith gave a clear commitment in April this year that he had resolved this issue and that only his department would carry out these inspections.

To-date this commitment remains undelivered.

Despite the extension, Mr Farrell said the weather is unlikely to improve sufficiently to allow farmers get all the slurry spread.

Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association president Malcolm Thompson said Mr Smith’s extension of the slurry spreading date until October 15 was the only sensible thing to do.

"Each year we are faced with a similar scenario and each year the deadlines have to be extended.

"This calls into question the advisability of farming by dates imposed by bureaucrats," he said.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, August 25, 2009