Every small action counts: How ASSAP helps farmers protect water
Industry groups have warned that losing the derogation could spell the end for one in eight dairy family farms, a €555 million reduction in Irish farm income, and could reduce our dairy exports by one seventh. File photo
Water quality issues will decide if Ireland can retain a nitrates derogation into 2026. The outcome will determine stocking limits and reshape Ireland’s agri-food industry.
Industry groups have warned that losing the derogation could spell the end for one in eight dairy family farms, a €555 million reduction in Irish farm income, and could reduce our dairy exports by one seventh (Teagasc has estimated that losing the derogation could reduce milk production by as much as 1.2 billion litres).
The least that farmers can do is to get their own corner inspected for water quality, and that is an easy process through the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP).
On a recent edition of the Teagasc podcast, Roisin McManus, a Teagasc ASSAP advisor based in Tipperary, explained how ASSAP offers free, confidential advice to all farmers on how they can help to improve water quality.
It's then up to the farmer if they want to take measures, helped by their ASSAP advisor. Farmers can invite the ASSAP advisor to call, and can subsequently draw down funding for water quality measures to be implemented, if they are in a priority area for reduced water quality.
The invite typically follows local farmer information meetings for farmers, usually attended by ASSAP advisors, catchment scientists, and other local advisors. “The goal isn’t to point the finger”, Roisin emphasised.
“Before I visit a farm, I like to gather as much background information as I can. I’d look at the catchment that the farm is in. I’d look at the status of that water body. I’d look at any pressures on that water body, in particular the agricultural pressures, Roisin explained.
"Then I’d bring out a map of the farmyard. I’d look at a PIP map, they are your Pollution Impact Potential maps for nitrate and for phosphorous. If they’ve a nutrient management plan done, I’d get that from their advisor.
"When I get to the farm, I would walk the land. We’d go down to the water body, if there is one on the farm. We’d discuss land management practices. We’d talk through the buffer zone for slurry and fertiliser spreading.
"We’d discuss the nutrient management plan, when they’ve soil sampled last. We’d go back to the farmyard then and we’d look at how water is being managed.
“We’d do a rainwater management plan. We’d look at where the water flows throughout the yard, where silage effluent is being collected, organic manure and how that’s being managed”, Roisin said.
Chutes and gutters will be assessed to ensure that rainwater is not entering slurry or soiled water tanks. The ASSAP advisor can then co-design and agree solutions with the farmer.
“We break it down into clean water management, organic manure management, land management such as buffers. If there is funding available through the Farming for Water EIP, we would bring in measures such as catch crops, if that’s applicable to the farmer, restricting livestock access from watercourses, grey water management on farms, nutrient management plans.
"We’d look at different measures that the farmer can implement, and we’d agree a timeframe to implement them”, Roisin explained.
“Once farmers hear that ASSAP is a free, confidential advisory service and that we’re not a policing body, they are very positive to work with us.
"What they’re asking for is practical solutions, realistic ones that aren’t going to be high maintenance and that aren’t going to have a major impact on productivity. When you take the time to sit down with a farmer, and you show them the science behind the catchment, they’re very receptive to the information”, Roisin said.
“ASSAP is a collaborative initiative between the Department of Agriculture, Dairy Industry Ireland and Teagasc. It’s designed to support farmers in improving water quality in a practical, farmer-focused way”, Roisin explained.
“It’s completely voluntary and confidential. There’s no inspection element to the programme. It’s all about free advice and support for the farmer,” she said.
ASSAP advisors work one-to-one with farmers in the priority catchments, identifying during farm visits where nutrients or sediment might be at risk of entering waterways.
“We can develop a tailored plan with site-specific solutions that work for the farmer and to benefit water quality. It’s a partnership approach built on trust, science and collaboration,” she said.
ASSAP can be called upon by all types of farmers. The dairy co-ops look after their own suppliers, while Teagasc ASSAP advisors focus on drystock and tillage farms.
If farmers decide to act on the water advice, there is funding available.
“With the introduction of the €50 million Farming for Water European Innovation Partnership last year, we can now support farmers in accessing funding to implement water protection measures”, Rosin said.
“It provides funding for measures that are over and above the GAP good agricultural practice for protection of waters regulations, for example, to get farmers to implement measures such as solar pumps, water troughs and permanently fencing off the water body to restrict livestock access.
"Other examples would be installing measures to deal with grey water off farmyards, such as a two-chamber farmyard settlement tank to capture sediment, with the outlet going into a nature-based solution like a bunded drain, to further capture sediment and filter nutrients, to make sure that the water that’s eventually entering the water course is as clean as possible”, Roisin explained.
“It’s about everyone working together”, Roisin said. “Every small action makes a contribution”.
The Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) co-ordinates efforts to achieve good water quality in rivers, lakes and coastal waters and works with ASSAP to identify pressures and priorities locally.
