The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue TD, welcomed the fantastic level of engagement with registration under the National Fertiliser Database and urged remaining farmers to sign up.
Any farmer or other Professional Fertiliser End User who wishes to purchase fertiliser, including lime, must be registered as a Professional Fertiliser End User with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
This is a very straightforward and simple process whereby farmers, or their agents, can register using www.agfood.ie. Importantly, those farmers involved in the import of fertiliser, farm to farm transfers, and/or retail sale of fertiliser must also register as Fertiliser Economic Operators on www.agfood.ie
While many farmers will not purchase fertiliser at this time of year, there has been exceptionally strong farmer registrations on the National Fertiliser Database. The Department confirmed that over 90,000 farmers have registered for the Database.
Commenting on this exceptional level of engagement, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue TD stated, “I thank every farmer that has registered for the National Fertiliser Database. There has been phenomenal engagement with the new system by farmers and their agents which further demonstrates farmers willingness to embrace positive changes. Registration is a very simple process. I encourage those who have yet to register to do so as soon as possible to avoid any potential disruption to their farming operations.”
The legislative requirements on the sale and import of fertiliser has also come into force. Around 1,000 Fertiliser Economic Operators (merchants and farmers) have registered on the National Fertiliser Database. All fertiliser imports into the State must be notified to the National Fertiliser Database (within 72 hours of import) and all data on fertiliser transactions must be recorded by Fertiliser Economic Operators.
Department officials will be available at the Ploughing Championships to assist with any queries or difficulties regarding registration or use of the database.
