The STRATUM project aims to develop a potential framework for a national soil strategy and monitoring programme for Ireland, in response to the upcoming EU Soil Monitoring Law.
STRATUM is focused on agricultural and forestry soils.
Teagasc
Cattle access to watercourses
There are 129,600 farms with 2.9 million fields in Ireland. 95,000 farms and 382,000 fields adjoin a watercourse; 73% of all farms have an on-farm watercourse.
Rules
- Where watercourses are currently unfenced, a fence must be erected at least 1.5m from the top of the bank;
- Existing fences must be moved out to at least 1.5m from the top of the watercourse bank;
- An exception to this is where an existing roadway runs parallel to a watercourse. The existing fence will suffice provided there is a fence on both sides of the roadway and the roadway is cambered away for the watercourse, along with an earthen bank between the roadway and watercourse;
- Bovines are still permitted to cross through watercourses provided both sides of the watercourse are fenced 1.5m back from the top of the bank, bovines cannot freely drink from the watercourse, and fences are in place to prevent bovines freely crossing or going up/down stream;
- All new and existing water troughs must be located at least 20m from watercourses.
Mandatory fencing on farms with a grassland stocking rate above 170 kg N/ha
Impact of Cattle Access to Watercourses: Literature Review
AIE Request: reports/presentations by Teagasc to DAFM on the ASSAP programme (2023-2024 YTD)
Governance: ASSAP Oversight Committee, Farming Consultative Group, MoUs
ASSAP Structure Review
ASSAP regional breakdown of referrals / expected referrals
Reporting (Ag Planner Software) and Quarterly Meetings
Records include Nitrate Action Programme, Derogation Report 2023 (12/07/2024)
Teagasc Board Meeting Minutes (Teagasc Authority) for the Years 2022 and 2023 YTD
FOI Ref. 230716
Meeting Minutes
Ballyvadin Farm
Contract Heifer Rearing
Ashtown Authority
Signpost Advisory Campaign
Inclusion and diversity
Drainage status of grassland peat soils in Ireland: Extent, efficacy and implications for GHG emissions and rewetting efforts
The Impact of Nitrogen Management Strategies within Grass Based Dairy Systems – Teagasc | Agriculture and Food Development Authority
The potential availability of land for afforestation in the Republic of Ireland
Irish Forestry 2015, Vol. 72
An analysis of land resources to assess “the potential availability of land for afforestation in the Republic of Ireland” was performed in 2013 with the aim of providing an understanding of the potential land resources that could potentially be available for forestry to achieve government afforestation targets (see attached paper Farrelly and Gallagher 2016)
Peer reviewed paper in pdf format, land availability forestry 2013 supporting document and map output in GIS gridded data format (ESRI grid).
Note: some of the input data used in this analysis is already in the public domain and available on line (through Teagasc and NPWS map portals) and some of the data is not, as it has been made available from OSI under national mapping agreement and other data agreements with Forest Service
A note on the potential availability of land for afforestation in the Republic of Ireland
An analysis of land resources to assess “the potential availability of land for afforestation in the Republic of Ireland” was performed in 2013 with the aim of providing an understanding of the potential land resources that could potentially be available for forestry to achieve government afforestation targets (see attached paper Farrelly and Gallagher 2016).
The analysis was based on developed spatial analysis techniques involving a range of datasets representative of landuse in Ireland, which were available from a range of National mapping agencies under licence agreement (e.g. Ordnance Survey Ireland, Navtech, etc.) in Table 1, Farrelly and Gallagher (2016). Some of the inputs utilised in the analysis are in the public domain and available on line (soils, sub-soils, landcover, etc.) at http://gis.teagasc.ie/soils/map.php and some of them, are subject to specific request for national responsible agencies (e.g. Forest Service, DAFM).
The data utilised for the analysis represented the best source of data available for the study at the time of preparation in 2012. Some data are subject to limitations of scale, with scales varying from 1:50,000 to 1: 500,000, the latter for published soil maps. Some of the input datasets used are time and date specific, being representative of agricultural land use and soil survey from the mid to late 1900’s https://www.teagasc.ie/environment/soil/soil-maps/ The landcover and habitat maps utilised are based on landsat data taken in 1995, these are perhaps obsolete and are being superseded by new maps (e.g. OSI prime II, see https://webapps.geohive.ie/mapviewer/index.html which may be subject to continuous updating and revision.
Additional data some of which was not used in the original study is available which may have potential to modify some of the results of the 2013 study. Additional forests have been planted, new environmental designations, county development plans, etc. would all have implications to land availability for forestry.
The spatial analysis performed in this study was intended to be utilised for tabular reporting and not for the production of map based data and the resulting raster dataset G&R_LA2013 is presented at 1 x 1km in ESRITM grid format and categories are described below.
The use of such maps at finer scales can cause misunderstanding and misrepresent the level of accuracy and detail of mapping of input datasets and are not suitable for use at a field or site level.
The interpretations derived from this map does imply suitability for afforestation, and does not eliminate the need for due process in the application for afforestation which are subject to DAFM guidelines and which are administered on a case by case basis subject to onsite sampling, testing, and detailed study of habitats, guidelines commensurate with Forest Service procedures for afforestation grant aid. Users are responsible for the appropriate application of this map.
Attribute fields
| Raster Value | DESCRIPTION |
| 1 | Utilised land |
| 2 | Unsuitable land |
| 3 | Protected land |
| 4 | Land most likely to have potential for forestry |
| 41* | Land suitable for productive agricultureab |
| 42* | Land marginal for economic agricultural productionab |
| 412* | As 41, but is fishery sensitiveb |
| 413* | As 42, but is fishery sensitiveb |
b Productive and marginal are defined by Gardiner and Radford – soil associations and their land use potential, An Foras Taluntais, Dublin.
bc Application of appropriate screening of forestry applications in fishery sensitive areas may be subject locally applicable
* Application for afforestation licenses is administered on a case by case basis subject to onsite sampling, testing, and detailed study of habitats and other appropriate assessments and guidelines commensurate with Forest Service procedures for afforestation grant aid.
Extracts
Download paper in full
Mapping data
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oQhFgCgS47BIFOvcv5h6j7lhrC-0W2ig/view?usp=sharing
Teagasc National Farm Survey – 2020 Sustainability Report
NMP Online: Teagasc Nutrient Management Planning (NMP) System
NMP Online is an online web application that allows Agricultural Advisors to prepare Nutrient Management Plans required for farm management purposes.
These plans are required both to show compliance with regulations and as a criteria for participation in farm management schemes.
NMP Online has met the requirements for Nutrient Management Planning (NMP); for participation in the GLAS Scheme and for submission of the NMP element of the Nitrates Derogation application.
It has been developed to handle the complex legislative and compliance framework that governs the management of nutrients and protection of waters.
The system is used by more than 850 farm advisors nationwide, who now have more than 250k plans on the system for 60k farmers.
The NMP online system was developed by Teagasc in conjunction with Compass Informatics Ltd, starting in 2014. It has continuously evolved since, to comply with changing legislation and to introduce new features.
Technical Overview of NMP:
- NMP web application instance (including ArcGIS and the ArcGIS API for JavaScript)
- Batch import of soil sample data (currently XML files exported from a Laboratory Information Management System to a network location) into the NMP database
- Batch load, parse, validate Client data (currently XML files exported from Teagasc CRM to a network location) process and load into NMP database and log results. This includes creating new clients and the update of client information where updates have been made to existing clients.
- Interface with Teagasc User Authentication System (A&A) to authenticate users logging into NMP.
- Interface with Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM) webservices (including downloading and uploading of information)
- Interface with OSI MapGenie
- Annual import of LPIS data (land parcel GIS data) from Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM)
- NMP Mobile apps (IOS and Android and associated web service).
Reporting functionality:
• NMP produces the following bespoke reports, selectable from a Plan:
o Farmer Short
o Farmer Full
o Farmer Fertiliser
o Derogation
o GLAS
o Records
• Custom Map based reports in PDF from Map Viewer
• A PDF is created using a HTML to PDF parser (IronPDF)
• A soil sample report facility is also available with allows for a more dynamic type of reporting on soil samples
• Export of data to Excel
GIS functionality:
• ArcGIS API for JavaScript V4
a. API V4.x config via Nuget package
b. JSON configuration files for each of the map viewers (a) Land setup, (b) Farm Specific Features & (c) General Plan map viewer
c. Style widget icons and CSS (colour theme)
d. Layerlist layers for each of the viewers
e. MXDs for styling, labels etc.
• Land Setup digitisation
a. Digitisation widget
b. Plot Splitting functionality via Widget
c. Plot Combine functionality via Widget
• Farm Specific Features digitisation
a. Digitisation widget
• General Farm Viewer Print functionality
a. Custom print widget
b. Styling, user instructions & feedback area managed via widgets
Interface:
Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine (DAFM):
Information required for the Teagasc NMP system is provided to Teagasc using a DAFM Webservice hosted in DAFM. The webservice supports the following operations:
• Download of NMP Profile consisting of land parcels for the Herd. Only the Agent associated with an applicant are permitted to download their data from DAFM.
• Check that Agent has authorisation from Applicant to transfer to their Agency. The Agent receiving the plan has an active association to the applicant for the BPS or GLAS schemes.
• Upload of GLAS and/or Nitrates plan data. The Agent performing the upload of a GLAS plan must be registered with DAFM as a GLAS Agent.
• Bulk Parcels/Shapes data transferred periodically to NMP. Contains anonymised ParcelShape information. The Land Unit Number (LNU) is be used to link the Teagasc and DAFM systems.
The attached tender document gives some sample screenshots to illustrate functionality and data fields
Download more screenshots here:
NWP Demo
File name is NMP_Demo.mp4 view here:
https://irl.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/publicpurchase_docs.asp?PID=185984&LID=211032&AllowPrint=1
Note: Where a new or amended NMP is submitted in 2022, only a plan produced by the Teagasc Online Nutrient Management Plan programme or the Farm Eye Nutrient Management Plan programme is acceptable.
Alternative to NMP Online
The Farmeye NMP (nutrient management plan) portal has been approved by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine as an alternative to the Teagasc system for preparation of compliance-based NMPs such as derogation plans.
Also see
https://www.gov.ie/en/service/4896d-pilot-soil-sampling-programme/