Almost 200 farmers and other stakeholders from the agri-food industry attended an AgriSearch webinar this week to launch AgriSearch’s NAP (Nutrient Action Programme) farm impact calculator.
Opening the webinar, AgriSearch vice-chair Ian McCluggage outlined the considerable amount of work that AgriSearch had done in a relatively short timeframe to respond to the NAP consultation.
This included presentations at an AgriSearch event at Balmoral Show.
The vice-chair thanked Dr. Sinclair Mayne for the considerable amount of work he had put into helping AgriSearch respond to the consultation including an in-depth critique of the science behind the proposals.
AgriSearch was coordinating its actions with key industry stakeholders.
NAP farm impact calculator
The NAP farm impact calculator has been developed by AgriSearch to help farmers assess the impact of the measures proposed for the 2026-2029 Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) NAP.
The calculator is now available to download from the AgriSearch website.
During the webinar AgriSearch strategy manager, Jason Rankin outlined the calculations that the tool performs and gave a practical, step-by-step guide on how to download and use the calculator and interpret the results.
This includes a calculation of the organic nitrogen loading (using the updated figures for dairy cows) which will determine if a farmer falls into the ‘intensive’ category or will require a derogation.
The calculator also determines the farm’s proposed allowance for chemical N fertiliser and indicates if this is above or below the farm’s current usage.
Finally, the calculator works out the farm’s phosphorus balance and indicates how many extra hectares or the extent of the stocking rate cut needed to achieve both the 10kg P/ha and 8kg P/ha limit.
Rankin then went through a number of dairy farm case studies illustrating how different types of farm might be impacted by the NAP proposals.
AgriSearch’s agriculture manager John Morrow went through two examples of beef and sheep farming systems, which was followed by a questions and answer session.
Closing the webinar Ian McCluggage said that AgriSearch would be working with industry partners to gather a number of farm case studies from across the ruminant livestock sector.
These will be used as part of a wider economic impact assessment. He encouraged farmers to participate if approached and emphasised that all such case studies would be kept anonymous.
