Northern Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Andrew Muir recently visited a farm in Co. Monaghan, which is part of the Agricultural Sustainability Support and Advisory Programme (ASSAP).
Teagasc, along with its ASSAP partners Local Authority Water Programme (LAWPRO) and Lakeland Dairies, invited Minister Muir to the farm of Padraig and Niall Hughes, Emyvale.
The Hughes dairy farm is located in the Mountain Water catchment.
ASSAP is working with farmers in a free and confidential advisory service to help improve water quality.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified priority catchments or ‘areas for action’ across the country where the status of the water is at risk of falling from a range of both agricultural and non-agricultural pressures.
In these priority areas, ASSAP is focussing its resources on addressing agricultural pressures and is made up of scientists that will assess the streams and advisors who will work closely with farmers.
Monaghan
During the visit to Monaghan, Minister Muir was shown how combining catchment science with a dedicated advisory service can help farmers to implement measures to protect water from agricultural pollution.
“I was delighted to visit Emyvale and see the good work being done by everyone to improve water quality in the River Blackwater, a cross border catchment that flows into Lough Neagh.
“This is something very close to my own heart and improving water quality in Northern Ireland is a top priority for me. I was keen to hear firsthand about the initiatives and approaches being adopted here.
“I firmly believe that we will all benefit from a partnership approach when it comes to tackling the challenges of improving our water quality.
“I have no doubt we have much to learn from each other and look forward to continuing our collaborative working to improve our shared waters,” Minister Muir said.
Water quality
Teagasc director, Professor Frank O’Mara said that Teagasc has identified 8 actions for change that farmers can implement to improve water quality.
“We are committed to supporting farmers in adopting these actions building on the knowledge gained and progress made by ASSAP,” he said.
Anthony Coleman, director of services for LAWPRO, added: ‘In order to address the issues affecting water quality, scientific evidence is required to identify pressures impacting different types of water bodies.
“LAWPRO have developed catchment assessment techniques to effectively identify what issues are impacting water quality in catchments and refer this scientific evidence to the appropriate agency so that appropriate measures can be put in place.”
Rory Farrell, group head of sustainability at Lakeland Dairies said that it was important as a cross-border co-op to showcase the success of the Mountain Water catchment.
“Rivers do not respect borders and we believe that this joined-up approach is critical. As a founding member of ASSAP, Lakeland Dairies has long supported our farm families to improve water quality.
“Protecting and enhancing water quality is an absolute imperative for our co-operative and our industry.
“Lakeland Dairies though our participation in ASSAP and the roll out of our farm sustainability strategy ‘Farming for a Better Future’ coupled with our sustainability incentive payment shows our farmers are meeting the water quality challenge head on,” he said.
