Government will not extend period for spreading organic fertilisers

IT is not proposed to extend the spreading periods for organic fertilisers, Environment Minister John Gormley has told the Dáil.

He had been asked by Dáil deputies Jim O’Keeffe, David Stanton and Sean Fleming to extend the date beyond yesterday’s deadline of October 15.

Mr O’Keeffe, Fine Gael TD for Cork South West, said the date for farmers spreading slurry in the North has been extended to December and many farmers had requested a similar extension here.

Mr Gormley replied that the objective of the relevant European regulations is to protect ground and surface waters, including drinking water sources, primarily through the management of livestock manures and other fertilisers.

“Good agricultural practice involves the land spreading of slurry as early as practicable in the growing season in order to maximise the uptake of nutrients by crops and to minimise pollution risks to water courses and ground waters. In accordance with the requirements of the nitrates directive, the regulations include provisions regarding periods when the land application of certain types of fertilisers is prohibited.

“In addition, the regulations prohibit such application at any time of the year when the ground is frozen, waterlogged or heavy rain is forecast.”

Mr Gormley said no extension to the spreading periods for organic fertilisers is proposed for a number of reasons

He listed these as the prolonged period of favourable weather that has prevailed since last month, the risk to water quality posed by extending the period for slurry-spreading and the major investment by the state and farmers in providing adequate waste storage facilities in recent years.

Mr O’Keeffe said he is all for good practice, but what is good enough for the North should be good enough for the Republic.

Meanwhile, Macra na Feirme’s agricultural affairs committee chairman Kieran McEvoy said the farming calendar dates set down by the Government need to be scrapped from an environmental and economic point of view.

“They are impractical and are seriously impacting on the real farming calendar and are not in the best interest of the environment,” he said.

Mr McEvoy said Macra has made a case to Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith that there is strong scientific, environmental and grassland management reasons to allow later spreading of slurry/farmyard manure.

“Weather patterns are also changing. We are getting wetter summers and drier winters and the grass growth is maintained into the winter months.

“In an extremely difficult year for farmers, imposing unnecessary bureaucracy and red tape in the form of unrealistic dates is pure nonsense. This wait and see approach to extending dates is angering farmers.”