An emergency meeting of the Irish Farmers' Association's national executive to discuss the latest advice from Teagasc to the Government on the controversial EU nitrates directive will be held tomorrow.
According to IFA president Pádraig Walshe, the new recommendations on the levels of fertilisers farmers will be allowed use in future will still severely limit output from Irish farms.
Mr Walshe said he continued to have serious concerns as Teagasc was linking fertiliser limits to precise stocking rates. He said this removed the flexibility that farmers needed in practical farming situations and greatly increased the bureaucracy for farmers and their advisers. "There is a fundamental difference between recommendations given as advice and statutory upper limits to penalise farmers. This point has been missed up until now.
"The Teagasc document appears to recommend increased nitrogen and phosphorus limits at stocking rates below the equivalent of 170kg of organic nitrogen per hectare. I am concerned at the soil classification between free-draining mineral soils and poorly drained soils based on a field-by-field assessment. This could add to costs and bureaucracy for farmers in interpreting fertiliser limits," he added.
Mr Walshe said that while Teagasc was recommending higher nitrogen limits on lesser-stocked farms, there was no recommendation to permit increased nitrogen applications on more intensive dairying and livestock farms.
"IFA will examine the Teagasc document in great detail and the organisation will take a strong line in opposing the damaging effects of the nitrates regulations on commercial farming," Mr Walshe said.