Officials play down pig farm ‘disaster’ fears
Pig and poultry farmers warn that most of their manure is exported to neighbouring farms, many of which cannot take their manure when the Nitrates Directive is enforced.
The industry’s 1,200 direct and 4,000 related jobs and annual exports of e320m are endangered, says Co Cork pig farmer Maurice O’Brien.
He said the Directive favours the chemical fertiliser industry, from which Ireland imports 360,000 tonnes of nitrogen and 40,000 tonnes of phosphorus per year, while threatening Irish pig and poultry farms which produce 22,000 tonnes of nitrogen and 4,000 tons of P.
Environment Department officials have admitted that pig farmers face difficulties in finding adequate spread-lands for manure. “Pig farmers must convince other farmers that they are making available a quality product of a certain standard that is not over-diluted or over-concentrated”, said John Sadlier, principal officer in the Department, in last week’s Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food debate.
The Department of Agriculture will promote use of pig manure by farmers, and REPS officials will encourage their clients to accept pig manure, he said.
“It is our intention to put as few difficulties as possible in the way of farmers taking in pig and poultry manure,” said Department of Agriculture official Michael O’Donovan.
Mr Sadlier confirmed that, by the end of 2006, pig farmers must have six months of manure storage: most other farmers have two extra years to comply. There is an immediate 2006 Nitrates Directive requirement, however, that all spreading of organic manure is prohibited in November and December. A new assessment of pig manure, from 67 kg up to 87 kg of nitrogen and from 22kg to 17kg of phosphorous, also kicks in immediately (or the supplier of the manure can opt to provide certified analysis).
Denis Naughten TD told the debate that up to 50% of a farmer’s own lands will not be available for pig manure spreading, and issues with single payments and integrated pollution control licences will make it hard to get additional spreadlands.
Mr Sadlier said a number of pig farms must increase their spread lands, because lands they used had become saturated with phosphorous, giving rise to water pollution.
But he said, “I am not convinced that it will be an insuperable problem for pig farmers to gain access to spread lands”. It also emerged in the debate that the efficiency of pig manure nitrogen utilisation must be increased from the Teagasc rated current average figure of 30%. “For pig and poultry manure, we are starting at a figure of 35% and will increase that to 45%, which was the minimum figure the Commission would accept with regard to efficiency”, said Tom Quinlivan of the Department of Agriculture. This would be achieved through new spreading technologies such as trailing shoe.
