European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) (Amendment) Regulations 2020

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 40/2020

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 14th February, 2020.

I, EOGHAN MURPHY, Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act 1972 (No. 27 of 1972) and for the purpose of giving further effect to Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 19911 , Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 20002 , Directive 2003/35/EC of 26 May 20033 , Directive 2006/118/EC of 12 December 20064 and Directive 2008/98/EC of 19 November 20085 hereby make the following regulations:

PART 1 PRELIMINARY

Citation, commencement and application

1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) (Amendment) Regulations 2020.

Interpretation

2. In these Regulations:

(i) “The 2017 Regulations” means the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) Regulations 2017 (S.I. No. 605 of 2017) as amended by the 2018 Regulations.

(ii) “The 2018 Regulations” means the European Union (Good Agricultural Practice for Protection of Waters) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 ( S.I. No. 65 of 2018 ).

Amendment of 2017 Regulations

3. Schedule 5 of the 2017 Regulations, as inserted by Article 10 of the 2018 Regulations, is substituted by the following Schedule 5:

“Schedule 5

Conditions applying in relation to Derogation

The following are the conditions for the purposes of Article 36 (1) of these Regulations in relation to the application to land on a holding in any year of livestock manure in excess of the amount specified in Article 20(1):

Application of manure, other fertilisers and lime

1. The amount of livestock manure from grazing livestock applied to the land each year on grassland farms, including by the animals themselves, shall not exceed the amount of manure containing 250 kg nitrogen per hectare, subject to the conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 to 7.

2. The total nitrogen inputs shall neither exceed the foreseeable nutrient demand of the considered crop, nor the maximum fertilisation rate applicable to the grassland farm, established in the Nitrates Action Programme and shall take into account the supply from the soil. Total nitrogen application shall be differentiated on the basis of stocking rate and grassland productivity.

3. A fertilisation plan shall be prepared and kept for each grassland farm describing the crop rotation of the farmland and the planned application of manure and other fertilisers. The livestock manure and chemical fertiliser allowance for the holding in the fertiliser plan shall not include parcels of commonage or rough grazing, as declared by the applicant on their Basic Payment Scheme application in 2019, at rates greater than those applicable to 170 kg N/ha. The fertilisation plan shall be available at the grassland farm for each calendar year before 1 March of that year. The fertilisation plan shall comprise at least the following:

(a) The crop rotation plan, which must specify the acreage of parcels with grass and parcels with other crops, including a sketch map indicating the location of individual parcels;

(b) the number of livestock on the grassland farm, a description of the housing and storage system, including the volume of manure storage available;

(c) a calculation of manure nitrogen and phosphorus produced on the grassland farm;

(d) the amount, type and characteristics of manure delivered outside the grassland farm or to the grassland farm;

(e) the foreseeable nitrogen and phosphorus crop requirements for each parcel;

(f) results of soil analysis related to nitrogen and phosphorus soil status if available;

(g) the nature of the fertiliser to be used;

(h) a calculation of nitrogen and phosphorus application from...