Dairy Chitchat 4, an udder new thread.

Ciaran cuffe was concerned that the banks wouldn't be able to recover their loans from farmers after he put them out of business.

https://www.farmersjournal.ie/news/news/green-mep-lobbies-banks-against-lending-to-farmers-663674

It won't affect it. If you don't like clover don't use it. Soils in the south west aren't as suited to it and from a p perspective it doesn't have as much to offer because it's iron and aluminium much more than calcium that is locking up p.

Its gas the epa have set a standard thats actually unachieveable , https://www.farmersjournal.ie/news/news/epa-results-don-t-bode-well-for-derogation-case-teagasc-specialist-822720 then you go looking at the Eu nitrates directive that sets water over 50mg/l as been in danger…

Then you see this map

We are been thrown to the wolves, and the lady at the top of the epa is hellbent on seeing it happen

The lack of policies that join up tillage and livestock production in terms of slurry and other nutrient management is the key weakness here. This issue has unfortunately been ignored by the likes of Teagasc etc. up to very recently :(

It is being pushed by teagasc but it's tillage farmers that are pushing for this.

This is no answer though either. It negates to the reponsibility that tilling soil releases nitrates to water than if that land was left untilled or in grass. It's pushing for a european or american way of farming and having their nitrate results.

All it is taking nutrients and greenwashing that you've made the situation better. It hasn't. All it does is give farmers free nutrients from other farmers. And the first farmers giving nutrients away will only do so for a short while.

The whole exercise is just to put Irish farmers on a par with European farmers who operate a tillage system not a pasture system and claim that both have the same nitrate release to waterways which is nuts as tillage release could be in the 30's and pasture release down in the 5 and 4's.

Teagasc will barely acknowledge this. I'm not naming them but in a webinar one acknowledges how nitrate is tested by mixing soil and then rinsing with water and testing the water. But that is only a snapshot. It doesn't know how much a plant has taken up or how much has leached in field conditions.

Your grassland will hold your nitrates as it's the soil life is the N and the carbon from the roots and dead soil life. But if you till that up to the air. You kill that life and oxidize that carbon and both release nitrate on top of what ever is applied.

My ground now when it rains or ground around me will release nitrate because it has dried out so much in this weather. This is the same as tilling. It's killing some life and oxidizing carbon.

https://www.euractiv.com/section/electric-cars/news/german-car-industry-government-react-against-eu-ev-tariffs-as-bmw-faces-21-duty/

That tariff thing is part of the green deal.the European car manufacturers definitely don't want a trade war with China, that's where they buy most of their parts

Problem with that is that if we don't produce feed in terms of grains etc. here used for finishing stock etc. - we will have to increase imports from the likes of South America where environmental, labour, welfare etc. standards are abysmal . Of course the tillage sector here needs to up its game too in terms of the Nitrate issue . Simple measures like fencing off waterways and unploughed setbacks from same, expansion of riparian vegetation zones, better hedge management, contour ploughing, unploughed and unsprayed headlands etc. can achieve alot in this space and really should be mandatory at this stage in vulnerable catchments.

Maybe it’s time to park the plough in the nettles and go min-till and direct-drill…along with proper use of cover crops etc. Irish tillage is a long way behind in taking up on non-disturbance soil management.

No idea, but I doubt it..history of heavy industry and a legacy of seriously polluted rivers has taken its toll.
On my catchment we’re running on 4-8mg/L nitrates. That’s with 140kg and restricted artificial N.

local town got the tides wrong with sewage release (which is done at night, when tourists arrive)……"do not swim" notices on local beaches atm due to "bacteria in water"…..this bacteria is coming up our rivers when tide is in……epa checking local river……who will get the blame????

That's due to all the tillage. Not much permanent pasture in France.

Farm orgs neef profesional speakers and debaters just because someone is leader of a farm org doesnt make him a good debater or negotiator.