As Tuesday’s ban on slurry spreading approaches Ulster Unionist agriculture spokesperson Robin Swann MLA has said that serious consideration must now be given to scrapping the closed period entirely.
Robin Swann said:
“Even though it has been an appalling October, with ground completely waterlogged, once again farmers are in a race against the clock to get tanks emptied. It makes no sense at all and it’s the clearest example we have of why farming by dates simply doesn’t work.
“It’s ridiculous that farmers are being forced to spread now on waterlogged fields, often between or even during heavy showers. For all we know a week at the end of October or November could bring dry and mild conditions.
“Equally, in January this year I remember talking to several farmers who were exasperated that they couldn’t take advantage of the winter’s unseasonably dry and mild conditions. For the first time many years I saw grass growing in January with farms turning increasing numbers of cattle out to graze and yet they were forced to keep the slurry in the tanks.
“The slurry ban has a noble intention of trying to protect waterways from nutrient pollution, but by enforcing a rigid timetable, in reality it often forces farmers to spread slurry when conditions are far from ideal. The ban is totally ineffectual.
“With the added pressure of an arbitrary deadline, and the threats of serious consequences if found to be in breach of it, I fear sometimes at this time of year farmers and contractors take risks in a job which requires total safety and one that should only be performed under the right conditions such as a day with bit of a breeze.
“I know there can be a common misconception that farmers are glad to just get rid of the slurry in their tanks, but that’s simply not the case. All farmers are already required to have at least 22 weeks slurry storage so it’s not the case that if the closed period was lifted that they would all start spreading it regularly and haphazardly.
“The nutrients it contains also have high value as a fertiliser, so that is another reason why farmers should be allowed to put it to best use rather than simply forcing them to spread it on whatever fields are capable of taking the machinery in wet weather like this year.
“It is now time for DAERA to look seriously at lifting the slurry ban. Even a previously commissioned a government report – the Northern Ireland Agricultural Land Management Strategy – in 2016 recommended that DAERA look into the viability of using technology for slurry application based on soil conditions, rather than just calendar dates.
“This is an issue that once we get Brexit out of the way, a new Stormont Agriculture Minister could take forward if the political impasse between the two main parties could ever be broken.”
