Teagasc, Dairy Sustainability Ireland release interim report on water
Image: Shutterstock
Teagasc and Dairy Sustainability Ireland have published the first Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP) interim report. The report focuses on the establishment and implementation of the ASSAP in 2018 and interaction with farmers up until 31 December 2019. The ASSAP programme is a key part of a wider government and community effort to improve water quality in 190 selected water bodies around the country by reducing agricultural and non-agricultural pressures.
The ASSAP advisory service is a sectoral/industry wide collaborative approach to improving water quality in Ireland. Established as part of Ireland’s 2nd River Basin Management Plan (RBMP), it has adopted a changed philosophy from the regulatory ‘one size fits all’ approach towards a new engagement based approach with farmers.
The programme is tasked with working on a voluntary basis with farmers and identifying and implementing the ‘right measure in the right place’ on farms located in Priority Areas for Action (PAA’s). This is the first such approach adopted in Ireland and it provides an alternative mechanism to work with the agricultural sector in order to make an improvement in water quality in our streams and rivers and help achieve the Water Framework Directive (WFD) targets.
A free and confidential farm visit from an ASSAP advisor is available to all farmers in a Priority Area for Action (PAA) where water quality is at risk from agricultural activity. To date, the programme has contacted some 1,652 farmers, with 1,168 farm assessments completed by 31 December 2019.
Central to the ASSAP has been the support the programme has received from government, the dairy industry and the farming sector.
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed TD welcomed the interim report published today and reinforced the importance of the innovative Government/industry collaborative initiative, which is supported by the farm organisations. The Minister added that “while a new approach to delivering on improvements in water quality, the programme has provided considerable free and confidential agricultural advice to farmers. Industry involvement in ASSAP is vital to the future sustainability of the programme and in improving water quality in the short term.”
Speaking at the launch of the report, Noel Meehan, Teagasc ASSAP Manager says, “working with farmers is the best way to realise improvements in water quality where agriculture is a pressure. The farming community has engaged very positively with the advisors and the science provided by the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) is helping to focus mitigation actions at farm level that will help to reduce nutrient, sediment and pesticide losses to waters.”