09 October 2023

Assess your starting point before committing to ‘panicky’ derogation solutions

With the upper limit of the nitrates derogation to reduce to 220kg of organic nitrogen per hectare from January 1, 2024 for some locations, farmers have been urged to study their own farm’s organic nitrogen figures carefully to see what impact – if any – this change may have on their system.

Speaking on a recent episode of the Teagasc Dairy Edge podcast, Dr Joe Patton, Head of Dairy Knowledge Transfer with Teagasc, urged farmers to examine their figures to assess how their farms are going to be affected and to what extent. This assessment should include the farm’s organic nitrogen production levels, the land area available and which band the herd currently sits within.

“We have to remember that while there is a significant impact at industry level, the scale of that effect is going to be very different across farms. Certainly for farms that are in a position where they are heavily affected by it, they need to start making that assessment and getting their actions in place very soon,” Dr Patton said.

Based on this, some farms will have no action to take, as their system exists within the remits of the 220kg of organic nitrogen per hectare limit. However, for farms that exceed this limit, especially those approaching the 250kg of organic nitrogen per hectare limit, action will be required.

Commenting further, Dr Patton said: “The idea of having an upper limit for organic nitrogen, farmers have been dealing with that for years at this stage.

“Really when you think about it, what farmers are being asked to do now or what we are saying that we need to do is we need to do the same things or versions of the same things, except our target has moved slightly.

“Most people, if you are already in derogation, you are already using levers if you like to keep you under 250 [kg of organic N per hectare]. We just have to pull on those levels a bit harder to get us to 200 [kg of organic N per hectare].”

Outlining the options available to farmers, Dr Patton explained that it is a question of reducing the organic nitrogen produced per hectare on the farms affected and this leads to the examination of surplus stock or adding additional acres to dilute the overall quantity of organic nitrogen produced per hectare over a larger farmed area. The use of contract rearing services or the exportation of slurry may also be an option for some holdings.

Listen into the podcast below where Dr Patton provides more details on the options available. Eddie Burgess, Catchment Specialist from the Agricultural Catchments Programme also features, where he gives the background and sequence of events that led to the decision to reduce the nitrates derogation being made.