Actions required to adhere to Ireland's 5th Nitrates Action Programme: Farmer preferences and policy implications

The sustainable intensification of agriculture will be required to feed an ever-increasing world population. Ireland has gone through a rapid expansion in dairy production since the abolition of milk quotas in 2015. However, there are concerns regarding the impact of this expansion on the environment in particular to biodiversity loss, increased greenhouse gas emissions and a reduction to water quality. This study investigated how Irish dairy farmers will respond to significant policy changes arising from Irelands 5th Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) which has a particular focus on water quality. While the changes required at farm level are mandatory and legally binding, there are a number of different pathways from which farmers can choose to ensure overall compliance with the policy. These different choices involve decisions around farm management practices, farm investment, farm labour decisions and changes around existing farm systems. Associated costs may also differ prompting farmers to consider whether to increase capital investments and increase debt levels on the farm. This study employed a mixed methods approach. Stage one involved sixteen face-to-face key informant (KI) interviews which were completed between July-September 2022 across the four provinces of Ireland. The main objective of the KI interviews was to rank the eleven significant categorised measures in Irelands 5th NAP in order to identify the top three measures that experts consider the most beneficial in terms of protecting and improving water quality. The top three measures identified were changes to Soiled Water Storage and Management (SWSM), the introduction of Livestock Excretion Rates (LER), and Chemical Fertiliser Reductions (CFR), respectively. Stage two comprised of forty-two phone surveys with dairy farmers from each of the six catchments within the Agricultural Catchment Programme (ACP). The phone surveys were completed between January and February 2023. The main results attained from this research are that the majority of farmers perceived the changes to SWSM and CFR would have a positive impact on water quality nationally, 67% and 65% respectively. However, contradictory to the KI’s, there was scepticism amongst farmers in relation to the benefits of LER and fewer farmers (36%) believed it would benefit water quality, than not (41%) with the remainder of farmers being neutral (23%). In terms of the main actions farmers implemented or planned to implement in response to the three key measures introduced in the 5th NAP, the main action that farmers indicated they would implement in response to SWSM was to store excess soiled water in slurry tanks (43%), increase the farmed area because of LER (36%), and improve soil fertility (69%) to adapt to
CFR. Another key finding was the proportion of farmers not aware of the changes to SWSM, LER and CFR which were 10%, 19% and 33% respectively. Key informants reinforced this finding as they perceived that there was a cohort of farmers unaware of the NAP changes. The main supports both KI’s and farmers discussed were financial aid to adapt to SWSM and advisory support to adjust to LER and CFR. In terms of advisory support, the results highlighted a number of extension methodologies may be required. These include but are not limited to; one-to-one advice, farm walks and open days and discussion groups which provide a platform for peer-to-peer learning. This study provides several useful insights to policy makers and extension agents/agencies both in Ireland and abroad especially in the context of policies focused on improved environmental
outcomes. Recommendations based on the findings of the study are provided as are recommendations for further research.