Department uses text alerts to warn farmers over nitrate commitments

Texting as a means of instant communication is now a common feature of daily life for busy farmers.

It was again used to good effect yesterday when the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine began notifying certain farmers of their interim nitrogen statement covering cattle numbers held on the farm for the first six months of 2013.

This is being done by sending text messages to those farmers whose cattle numbers would indicate that they may be approaching or exceeding the limits set down in the nitrates regulations.

Some 98,000 of the department customers have supplied their mobile numbers which can be used for communication of important messages by text. A selection of these will relate to a particular scheme or incident at any given time.

There are some 136,000 active farmers. Over 96,000 of these have online services access.

Nitrogen and phosphorus statements for the period Jan 1 to Jun 30, 2013, are also now available for all farmers online by registering on www.agfood.ie

The department said that these N and P statements are a valuable tool, especially for the more intensive farmers, and should assist them in deciding whether or not they need to change their farming practices before the end of the year to stay within the limits set down in the nitrates regulations.

Farmers not already registered for agfood.ie can do so by logging onto www.agfood.ie and clicking the ‘register’ button.

To register a mobile phone number for future SMS text alerts log on to www.agriculture.gov.ie/mobileupdates/ to access the sign-on form, or alternatively contact the regional office.

If a herd owner does not have access to online or SMS text alert notification services, the interim N and P statements can be obtained from the regional offices or from the department’s nitrates section, Johnstown Castle, Co Wexford.

The department confirmed this exercise will be repeated later in the year.

The use of text messages for provision of interim statements, builds on its use last year when it was welcomed as a positive development.