Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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292. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the schemes and initiatives in place to reduce ammonia and nitrogen emissions. [17279/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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There is a whole of Government approach to climate policy with officials from my Department working very closely with other Departments and in particular with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, which leads in this area.

In terms of ammonia, Ireland must comply with the National Emissions Ceilings Directive (NECD) under which ammonia emissions must be reduced by 1% below 2005 levels by 2020 and 5% below 2005 levels from 2030 onwards.

Notwithstanding our commitment to meeting the Directive, reducing ammonia and nitrogen emissions in Ireland represents a considerable challenge. Agricultural ammonia emissions reached a peak in 1998 and declined to a low in 2011, due to a decline in the ruminant livestock population and reduced use of fertiliser nitrogen. However, since then with the anticipation and removal of milk quotas in 2015, ammonia emissions have been on an upward trend. Dairy and non-dairy bovines comprise the bulk of agricultural ammonia, with these emissions arising principally from animal housing and storage and the landspreading of manures. While sources of fertiliser emissions have fluctuated in recent years (e.g. changing portion of urea and overall amount), there has been a significant decline since the peak in the late 1990s due to a combination of reduced fertiliser use arising from our Nitrates Action Programme.

My Department is actively considering all options for how best to control emissions and specifically in relation to ammonia it is currently preparing an Advisory Code for Good Agricultural Practice to Control Ammonia Emissions. Furthermore, we have a whole territory approach to nitrates implementation so all farmers are obliged to abide by nutrient management planning which has many synergies with reducing ammonia through the efficient use of animal manure.

The Nitrates Action Programme (NAP) gives effect to the Nitrates Directive; in late 2017 Ireland agreed with the European Commission on its fourth NAP for the period 2018 – 2021. The Nitrates Action Programme agreed includes a balanced programme of measures supporting the objectives of achieving good water quality while at the same time encouraging sustainable and efficient agricultural practices. The measures in Ireland’s derogation take account of the growing numbers of derogation farmers who are farming at intensive stocking rates, and also environmental objectives for water, climate change and ammonia which Ireland must achieve.  For example, a new condition for derogation farms has been included in that from 2018, 50% or more of slurry must be applied by 15 June and after that it must be applied by using low emission slurry spreading (LESS) equipment.

Ammonia losses from slurry are significantly reduced by slurry application in the springtime and also by using LESS equipment.My Department supports grant aid for LESS equipment under the Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme known as TAMS II and supports the application of slurry via LESS equipment as an option in the GLAS agri-environment scheme.

Modern trailing shoe slurry spreaders and new fertiliser formulations will help to reduce ammonia emissions. Covered slurry stores also offer some potential, however, it is only feasible for outdoor slurry stores and is only beneficial if subsequent slurry spreading is via trailing shoe; otherwise ammonia protected during storage will then be available for release at spreading stage. As mentioned above, investment in trailing shoe machinery is supported by the Rural Development Programme.

Research also plays a key role in improving our emissions reporting:  the recent AGRI-I  project, funded by my Department, has resulted in changes to nitrous oxide emissions factors for synthetic fertiliser and dung and urine by grazing animals, thereby, improving calculation of these emissions in the National Inventory.  

Continued support under the Department’s Research Stimulus Fund for ammonia research is essential to focus on improving our emissions reporting and emissions factors, in particular our emissions factors for manure storage and housing.

My Department funded the recently completed Sustainable nitrogen fertiliser Use and Disaggregated Emissions of Nitrogen (SUDEN) projectwhich was led by Teagasc, with AFBI and UCD partnering, identified that farmers can maintain yields and reduce ammonia loss to the environment.

Another ongoing funded project by my Department is Measurement and Abatement of ammonia emissions from agriculture (LowAmmo) which is focusing specifically on addressing knowledge gaps in national ammonia emissions data.

Achieving the required ammonia reduction targets is a significant challenge and one my Department is actively engaged with.