September marks a key month and farmers need to be aware that the closed period for the application of chemical fertiliser, either nitrogen or phosphorus, is fast approaching.

With September 14^th being the last day for applications, if fertiliser stocks are retained on farm after the deadline comes to pass, they must be recorded on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine’s National Fertiliser Database as ‘closing stocks’.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine also reminded farmers and other fertiliser end users, today, September 2, that unprotected urea in solid form will no longer be permitted to be spread on land after 14 September 2025.

This restriction applies to all urea nitrogen (N) products with ureic N content of 1% or above, including those products blended with secondary macronutrients (e.g. sulphur) and/or micronutrients (e.g. selenium). However, the restriction does not apply to blends or compounds containing unprotected urea and phosphorus. Furthermore, unprotected urea can still be used in liquid form as a fertiliser.

For farmers and other fertiliser end users who choose to purchase unprotected urea in solid form and melt it down for application in liquid form, the Department will implement official controls to verify this process as part of the future on-farm inspection process.

The restriction on the use of unprotected urea is a key part of the on-going work to maintain Ireland’s compliance with its ammonia emissions limit, improving the sustainability of Irish agriculture and avoiding the risk of costly EU fines.

Farmers must also be aware of the length of the prohibited spreading or closed period. Farms located in ‘Zone A’, which includes Carlow, Cork, Dublin, Kildare, Kilkenny, Laois, Offaly, Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford and Wicklow, can’t apply chemical fertiliser until January 27^th. The earliest date in which farmers in ‘Zone B’, which consists of counties Clare, Galway, Kerry, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Mayo, Meath, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath, can spread is January 30^th. In addition, farmers located in the ‘Zone C’ counties of Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim and Monaghan cannot spread chemical fertilisers containing N or P until the season opens on February 15^th, 2025. Lime and straight potassium (Potash) products can be spread all year round.

In terms of organic manures (excluding farmyard manure), the closed period for slurry application in the autumn commences on October 1^st. Again, the details of when this closed period ends are detailed in table 1. Meanwhile, farmers must have farmyard manure applied before November 1^st, as this is when the prohibited period for farmyard manure spreading comes into force.

Table 1: Storage periods for livestock manure and prohibited periods for spreading fertilisers and organic manures. Soiled water cannot be spread in December

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