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IFA president Francie Gorman has called for the removal of any shackles slowing down farmers’ plans to build additional slurry storage as part of the sector’s bid to improve water quality.
The farm leader slammed serial objectors as a barrier to farmers looking to make the best use of their nutrients, but he also took aim at delays in the processing of Targeted Agriculture Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) applications.
“The planning regulation is a huge issue, the hold-up in TAMS, even measures like catch crops and the regulation around that,” Gorman told those attending the launch of the Better Farming for Water campaign.
“They need to be incentivised and the shackles need to be taken off to allow farmers to take on measures in a timely fashion. If we don’t get that done, we’re not going to succeed.”
The IFA president also called for more clarity in the messaging reaching farmers on improving water quality.
He claimed that most farmers have yet to hear of the €50m in supports for water quality measures made available to them through the Farming for Water EIP.
“There are 130,000 farm families out there and this doesn’t get through to them the way it should.
“The message needs to be simple and it needs to be communicated more directly.
“They are hungry for knowledge. They will take on best advice if it’s given to them, but slurry storage is another huge part.”
Teagasc’s director of knowledge transfer Stan Lalor recognised that farmers face challenges around slurry storage and their ability to invest in farm facilities.
However, Lalor added that “steel and concrete won’t fix this on its own” if slurry is not spread in the right time and conditions to utilise its nutrients effectively.
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