Agriculture

Fertiliser Imports (Ireland)

adminLeave a comment

Source: CSO, July 2022

Includes a separate breakdown of imports of fertiliser from Northern Ireland

Note: the CSO have 2 Codes for Fertiliser (27) Crude Fertilisers and minerals (excluding coal, petroleum and precious stones) and (56) Fertilisers (Other than those of Division 27).

You can take out any codes you don’t require by clicking on the arrows opposite any of the headings and
selecting or deselecting.

The description sheet and a separate sheet for Northern Ireland is at the bottom of the table

The NI data (approx one third of fertiliser imports) suggests an issue for the new DAFM Chemical Fertiliser Register – how will NI imports be tracked ?

Download CSO fertiliser import data in Excel here:

AGlover_FertiliserDownload

Electoral Divisions in Ireland with the most derogation herd applications

adminLeave a comment

Ireland’s nitrates derogation allows farmers to farm at higher stocking rates, above 170 kg livestock manure nitrogen/ha up to 250 nitrogen/ha

Notes:

Data for DAFM ranked by number of herds

There is no public DAFM data available by farm, or by townland

The data does not give an indication of actual stocking levels on the farms

There is no easy way to map the data against catchments with nitrates pollution.

The data is number of derogation applications submitted (it may differ from actual number of derogation herds due to applications deleted, in draft when numbers published, or applications ‘under query’)

Download:

213396_fec4151b-4730-4c8c-a0e3-c2e50b0b2f26-2Download

Pilot Farm Environmental Study (FES)

adminLeave a comment

This pilot will establish a framework to generate a database of baseline habitat and biodiversity data at the farm-level and will provide the scope for an inventory of farm habitats and biodiversity present and a baseline for future targeting of agri-environmental schemes and measures.

The Pilot Stage of FES will focus on the roll out of farm level habitat surveys on approximately 6,500 farms.

The Agricultural Consultants Association (ACA) will coordinate the roll out of this survey

The FES advisor training module will commence shortly, and the measure will open to farmers in quarter 1 2022. Farm surveys will be carried out over the spring and summer 2022.

Results and outputs of the pilot survey will be presented to the Department in Q4 of 2022

https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/3b122-mcconalogue-and-hackett-launch-5-million-pilot-farm-environmental-study/

Gap Analysis Interim Briefing Note

adminLeave a comment

Source: EPA

This interim briefing note has been prepared by the EPA Catchments Unit for DHLGH. The aim of this interim briefing note is to provide an overview of the number of waterbodies that are impacted by activities relevant to DAFM, and to highlight the issues (e.g. P, N, sediment) that measures must target to improve water quality and meet Water Framework Directive (WFD) environmental objectives. Assuming all necessary measures are implemented, the note also provides a projection on the number of waterbodies where water quality can be improved and also the number of waterbodies where these measures will lead to waterbodies achieving their environmental objective.


As the note is an interim note, and the analysis is based on draft characterisation data and draft Pollution Impact Potential maps, some values may change, but overall the document provides a general overview of the extent of action that is required and what this action can achieve.

This note focuses on three distinct sections relevant to DAFM: Agriculture, Forestry and Land drainage/Channelisation

1.-Gap-Analysis-Interim-Briefing-Note_FinalDownload

Observations from EU on the CAP Strategic Plans submitted by Member States

adminLeave a comment

Published plans

https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/key-policies/common-agricultural-policy/cap-strategic-plans_en#publishednationalstrategicplans

On Monday 4 April, the European Commission published a document providing an overview of its observations following the assessment of 19 national strategic plans on the implementation of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

On 31 March, the Commission services sent observation letters on 19 draft CAP strategic plans submitted

Notes

ES,SW,NL,IT published below

Slovenia made it available to stakeholders

Irish Min promised to share it

Austria published just selected elements of the observation letter on their web

FR letter leaked to media

Observations on the CAP Strategic Plan submitted by Spain

es-list-of-observations-adoption-final_tcm30-616040Download

Observations on the CAP Strategic Plan submitted by Sweden

eu-kommissionens-observationer-pa-sveriges-strategiska-plan-2023-2027-engDownload

https://t.co/FYJegvS5dj

Observations on the CAP Strategic Plan submitted by the Netherlands

list-of-observationsDownload

Click to access list-of-observations.pdf

Osservazioni sul piano strategico della PAC presentato dall’Italia

[no English translation available]

Translation_into_IT_of_Annex_to_OL_on_IT_CSPDownload

Incidents of agricultural pollution in Northern Ireland rivers from 2017 to 2021

adminLeave a comment

How many incidents of agricultural pollution have been recorded in Northern Ireland rivers from 1st of January 2017 to the 30th of April 2021? (please include impact i.e. high, low)

a. Of those incidents how many resulted in a prosecution
b. Of those incidents how many resulted in a penalty / fine
c. Of those incidents how were they dealt with? (warning letters etc.)

During the date range specified in the query there were:
– 1023 Low Severity Incidents (605 where the polluter was identified and 418 where there was no polluter identified);
– 247 Medium Severity Incidents (189 where the polluter was identified and 58 where there was no polluter identified); and

– 39 High Severity Incidents (20 where the polluter was identified and 19 where there was no polluter identified)

DAERA-21-185_RedactedDownload

Nationwide hazardous farm waste collection scheme

adminLeave a comment

A scheme which will see farm hazardous waste collected from designated drop-off points nationwide is expected to be operational by 2024, should the timeframe set out in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) National Hazardous Waste Management Plan for 2021-2027 be followed.

he scheme will see the collection of potentially hazardous materials, such as empty pesticide containers, veterinary medicine waste and used oil, from centres scattered throughout the country.

The EPA’s waste management plan estimated that there is in the region of 7,378t of hazardous wastes, excluding used batteries and electronic goods, currently stockpiled on farms.

https://www.farmersjournal.ie/nationwide-hazardous-farm-waste-collection-scheme-planned-for-2024-686145