Mr. Pat Murphy:

In the initial application of the system, there will potentially be a six-week time-lag after fertiliser is bought. I will give an example. If I go out on 1 March to buy some fertiliser, the merchant may only be making a monthly return and the return for March will have to be in by the middle of April. For farmers trying to stay within the limits, this will be a much bigger issue in future because the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine now has complete visibility of everything that is being bought. Rather than it being on an inspection basis, as it currently is, the Department will have full visibility of the amount of fertiliser products purchased. It will be difficult for farmers to keep an eye on the amount they are going to purchase compared with what they are allowed to purchase if the data are six months out of date. It will be difficult if farmers are trying to get the last of their fertiliser in August and they cannot see how much of their remaining allowance they can purchase. There is movement to help farmers to stay compliant and not inadvertently be non-compliant by virtue of not having enough information. The same issue applies to advisers supporting farmers. It is a matter of making sure that we do not have a significant number of farmers inadvertently going slightly over the limit.