The Minister moved to reassure farmers who are experiencing difficulties as a result of the recent poor weather that his officials would be sympathetic to the application of slurry on land for the remainder of this year.
Farmers have been concerned about their ability to meet the October 15 deadline for the spreading of slurry under the Nitrates Action Programme Regulations.
However the Regulations contain a transitional measure allowing slurry to be spread on land up to December 31, 2008 whilst farmers are still putting in place the required storage capacity.
The Minister said: “I am confident that working together, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and the farming industry can overcome the transitional difficulties whilst continuing to meet the requirements of the Nitrates Directive.
“However farmers should be under no illusion that this is a transitional measure. Farmers must, however, comply with all other environmental conditions associated with spreading slurry.
“From next year all farmers should have in place sufficient storage capacity and manage their slurry applications throughout the year to ensure that they can meet the closed period. Failure to do so may result in farmers having to invest in increased storage capacity.”
Notes to Editors
- Under the Nitrates Action Programmne Regulations (NI) 2006 all farmers in Northern Ireland must comply with the closed period for the application of livestock manures, except for farmyard manure and dirty water, from 15 October to 31 January.
- However a transitional arrangement allows farmers to put in place the required storage capacity by 31 December 2008. Farmers must have at least 22 or 26 weeks storage capacity depending on the type of enterprise. Farmers need to give consideration to local environmental conditions including adverse weather and may need to increase this minimum storage requirement.
- As part of this transitional arrangement any farmer with insufficient storage capacity can still apply livestock manures during this closed period as long as all other measures, including those relating to environmental conditions, are met.
- Environmental conditions include not applying manures to waterlogged soils, flooded land, frozen or snow covered ground, or when heavy rain is forecast.
- For media inquiries please contact DOE Press Office 028 9054 0014 or out of office hours, contact the EIS Duty Press Officer on pager 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned.
