Council to conduct 154 farm inspections in Mayo this year
JUST over 150 farm inspections will be conducted by Mayo County Council in the year ahead.
They are to ensure compliance with regulations to protect the quality of our waterways, with inspectors giving farmers time to resolve any compliancy issues.
Sixty-six inspections took place last year, with 28 (42%) fully compliant and 33 farms found to have non-compliances, though many were minor and easily fixed, with good engagement from farmers, councillors were told in a presentation by Ciaran Flynn, environmental enforcement officer with the council.
He was asked to update members following a farmers meeting in Belcarra where queries around inspections were raised.
Nationally, an EPA water quality report has found that almost half of the waterways in the country are in an unsatisfactory condition. There have been improvements in some areas but they have been offset by decline in others.
Excess nutrients from agriculture and waste water remains the greatest issue.
In Mayo, the situation is not as bad as other areas of the country with more intensive farming, said Mr. Flynn. But there is still plenty of farming here, with almost 100,000 cattle and 275,000 sheep in the county, held by more than 12,000 farmers.
Income from agriculture in Mayo is around €128 million, with 91% of that coming from direct payments from the Department of Agriculture and Europan Union. It is a condition of payments to be compliant with the regulations, with particular focus on water.
Farms are not randomly selected for inspection. Detailed catchment assessments take place, with a risk-based approach, looking at location, highest stocking rates, derogation farm, proximity to waterways, pollution impact potential, soil types, and other factors.
Contact is made with farmers to arrange a suitable time for inspections, where any potential issues are discussed with them.
If there is non-compliance, farmers are given details of the issues and time to fix them.
Ultimately, they want pollution issues to be resolved and not to be going down the route of enforcement.
Mr. Flynn shared photos of non-compliance, which included slurry spilling out from a slated shed, rolling down a hill towards a river; an open slurry tank that overflows when it rains; poor slurry spreading practices; silage bales three high, sagging and seeping in a field in a pool of water; and poor outwintering practices with too many cattle in a small area.
The target for this year is to carry out 154 inspections.
Councillor Patsy O'Brien said they have a situation in Newport where human excrement is being allowed to flow into Clew Bay and this needed to be kept in mind, that the farmer isn't the only culprit when pollution is mentioned.
The percentage of offenders is low, Councillor Damien Ryan pointed out, and he highlighted difficulties with TAMS. A farmer can apply for more slurry storage but they are not approved as it is seen an intensification or increasing stock numbers when it's not.
With increased rainfall, cattle are being housed for longer, he said, and increased slurry storage capacity needs to be approved.
Councillor Johnny O'Malley again called for rivers to be cleaned, like his local Mayour, which is backing up into septic tanks and sheds and taking fertiliser from the land.
Is that a farmer's problem, he asked, when he can do nothing about it.
And he also hit out at calendar farming, with Councillor Chris Maxwell agreeing that it creates obstacles. When the weather is suitable they should be able to get on with jobs.
A long-standing advocate for restoring Lough Carra, Councillor Al McDonnell said agriculture isnt the sole contributor to issues with our waterways but it is significant. And locally, everyone, including farmers, had gotten together and acted responsibly with change.
Farmers were conscious of water quality and inspectors were working with them to get it right.