Farmers are being reminded that the closing date to apply for the soil sampling and analysis programme is fast approaching.

The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) confirmed that phase 3 of the programme was open for applications on October 17.

As announced in Budget 2025, this phase of the programme has the potential to take an estimated 40,000 additional samples from farms all over the country.

All applications for the soil sampling and analysis programme must be made by a farmer or their agent through the department’s online agfood system before the closing date of midnight on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.

The farm level soil sampling and analysis initiative will provide participating farmers and their advisors with comprehensive details about the nutrient status, soil organic matter levels and indicators of soil health on their farms.

According to DAFM these results can be used to target soil management and farming practices to achieve economic and environmental sustainability on farms.

The information collected will provide the basis for the next generation of soil-specific nutrient management advice and underpin targeted fertiliser and organic manure applications across all farming systems in the country.

The programme, co-funded by the European Union and the National Exchequer, will administered by a third party contracted by the department.

The voluntary measure is open to all farming enterprises in all parts of the country.

As the objective is to achieve maximum geographic spread and farm system representation and applications will be accepted on a first come first served basis.

The department has said that the programme will only accept farmers with a valid Basic Income Support for Sustainability (BISS) 2024 application.

Farmers in a registered farm partnership and companies are eligible to apply for the programme provided that the application is made in the same name as the BISS 2024.

Land entered into the programme can be leased, rented or owned by the applicant, however commonage lands will not be sampled.

Each sample will represent a maximum of 5ha and a limit of 16 samples per farm will apply.

Successful applicants will be notified in writing of their acceptance into the programme and of the commencement date of their contract.

Soil analysis results will be returned to the department and made available to each farmer.

Participating farmers will receive the analysis reports with information on macro- and micronutrients, soil carbon and the presence of ESBL E. coli, a type of resistant bacteria commonly used for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance

The department noted that farmers who were sampled in the pilot programme and who were approved to participate into phase 2 of soil sampling programme are not eligible for this year’s programme.

Any farmer participating in the soil sampling and appropriate liming (AP6) option under Eco-Scheme 2023 and 2024 is also not eligible to apply to the programme in 2024.

The department has said that in the event of the programme being oversubscribed, applicants will be selected on the basis of first come, first serve across geographic region and enterprise type.

DAFM said that this method will reflect the numbers and types of farms nationally.