The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has indicated that the Agriculture Water Quality Working Group will discuss how to improve the organic bovine nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) statements service provided to farmers.

According to Minister Charlie McConalogue, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) issues farmers with online interim N and P statements at "regular intervals".

But the chair of the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee, Jackie Cahill, believes that "with nitrates banding and the reduction from 250kg to 220kg per hectare" farmers should be provided with "monthly figures" on their organic nitrogen position.

In a parliamentary question this week Deputy Cahill asked the minister to ensure farmers were provided with monthly figures and asked him "to make a decision on the matter".

Minister McConalogue told the Oireachtas Agriculture Committee chair that in order to calculate the "most accurate figures" regarding the bovine N and P on a per hectare basis for each holding, these statements "combine multiple sets of data".

These include:

The number of animals on the holding each day within each bovine category for the period in question;
Where applicable, the nutrient excretion rate band assigned to dairy cows in the herd for the year in question;
The land area declared on the herdowner's Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) Scheme application for the year in question;
Where applicable, the organic manure movements onto or off the holding as declared and verified to DAFM for the period in question.

Minister McConalogue added: "With the introduction of dairy excretion rate banding, it is no longer possible to calculate these figures accurately until such time as the bands have been confirmed and the area declared under BISS for the year in question is stable.

However the minister also said that DAFM is "willing to explore further options with the objective of improving this service to farmers".

"I believe this will best be done through discussion at the Agriculture Water Quality Working Group that I established last year involving all the main farming organisations," he added.