2007 deadline for pig producers
Farms with Integrated Pollution Control (IPC) and Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) licenses are responsible for 80% of pig production in Ireland, and they have been told they can continue to operate under those licenses until they are reviewed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
"The date for completion of this exercise is October 2007", said Agriculture and Food Minister Mary Coughlan.
"The most important aspect of this is that the farmers who take pig manure from these producers can continue to take it in accordance with their existing nutrient management plans, and need have no worries about their entitlements under the Single Payment Scheme or their REPS undertakings," Minister Coughlan said.
She said the new deadline gives pig producers time to adapt to the new Regulations.
"They have time to find additional spreadlands," she said, "to look at new feeding regimes that reduce the volume and nutrient content of their slurry, and to investigate technology that will allow them to separate the solid and liquid elements."
Environment Department sources confirmed the new deadline for big pig farms.
They said the nutrient limits prescribed by the Regulations for application of organic fertilisers will not apply for periods up to 30 October 2007 in relation to organic fertilisers from certain activities which are licensable by the EPA (and which are subject to nutrient management controls in the context of such licensing).
