ICMSA bemoans the lack of clarity over Irish nitrogen rules

Pat McCormack said that the lack of progress was ‘stunning’ and has called for the policy, which requires all dairy farmers to provide milk yield information for their herd to determine their nitrate banding, to be shelved. “We are coming up on mid-March and most of our members have still to receive official notification on what band they will have to farm within for this year – I repeat, that’s this year,” he commented. McCormack said the government’s ‘unrealistic’ schedule on rolling out the banding rules had become ‘impossible and it would be better for everyone…if the responsible officials just recognized that they are not ready for this regulation and suspended the process till there’s some semblance of a plan’. “Frankly, they have not done the preparations – much less looked at the roll-out and the implications of this move,” McCormack said. “Realistically, at this stage we have two options: [the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine] can continue with this ...