The Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Andrew Muir is urging farm businesses to take the opportunity to register for the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme.
To help with this, the closing date for registration has been extended to midnight on Monday, September 8, 2025.
The scheme is open to all farm business in Zone 4, Co. Antrim, and any other businesses in Zones 1, 2, and 3, which have not already registered to the scheme in previous years.
Minister Muir said: “I am pleased that registrations to Zone 4 of the Soil Nutrient Health Scheme are continuing to increase since it opened in June (2025). However, I understand the summer months are an extremely busy time for farm businesses and therefore I am extending the deadline for online registrations by one week.
“There are over 18,600 farm businesses who are already benefitting from taking part in the Scheme, by receiving valuable information which helps farm businesses match slurry, fertiliser and lime applications to crop needs more accurately.
"This will help to increase efficiency while also reducing the farm’s environmental footprint.
“The unique information from Soil Nutrient Health Scheme results, can be used to develop a nutrient management plan for each farm. The online training delivered by CAFRE will help farm businesses to do this,” the minister added.
DAERA
According to the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA), it is important to note that taking part in the scheme and completing the training is planned to be a conditionality for the new farm sustainability payment from January, 2026.
DAERA said that data collected in the scheme will not be used for any enforcement purposes.
However, the data will be shared with the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (AFBI) for research purposes, and with third party contractors who collect and analyse the soil samples.