Phase 3 of soil sampling scheme opens
From Samples The Over The All The Potential 40,000 The To Take Third Has Estimated Country Additional Farms An Of Phase Programme
Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Charlie McConalogue and Minister of State with responsibility for Land Use and Biodiversity, Senator Pippa Hackett, today announced the opening of Phase 3 of the Soil Sampling and Analysis Programme for applications.
It follows the recent Budget 2025 announcement, with this phase of the programme having the potential to take an estimated 40,000 additional samples from farms all over the country.
Announcing the opening, Minister McConalogue said: “This Programme will build on the success of the previous two phases and is aimed at putting soil health, soil fertility and soil carbon at the very centre of our future agricultural model. The Soil Sampling and Analysis Programme is establishing a comprehensive national baseline on the status and health of our soils across all Irish farming systems. Farmers have been supported thus far in taking over 170,000 samples under the previous phases of the Programme and I am delighted to provide this continued funding.”
Commenting on the opening, Minister of State Pippa Hackett said: “Taking soil samples and acting on the results can save money for farmers, and crucially, it also helps farmers to improve soil health and water quality and reduce agricultural emissions. Soils are complex ecosystems that perform amazing functions, and this Programme will increase farmer awareness and understanding of their soils. This will ultimately help farmers to make more targeted management decisions and reduce their reliance on expensive chemical inputs.”
This Programme covers the cost of up to 16 individual soil samples for nutrient analysis, soil acidity, organic matter content and one test for surveillance of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) per farm.
Minister McConalogue added: “The health of agricultural soils is crucial, not only for sustainable food production and efficient use of fertilisers but also for the provision of many other ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, and flood regulation. I encourage farmers to apply for the programme as soil sampling is integral to managing soil fertility and we are now entering the optimum time for taking soil samples.”
The Soil Sampling and Analysis Programme will be open to farmers across the country and the full list of eligibility criteria can be found in the Terms and Conditions.
This initiative, along with the establishment of the Irish Soil Moisture Monitoring Network, will provide Ireland with infrastructure that will allow for the real-time reporting of a number of different climatic variables. Also, the National Agricultural Soil Carbon Observatory, which involves measuring greenhouse gas emissions across a variety of Irish soil types, will inform future policy and provide accurate data on how management practices impact our soil resources.
Applications can now be made through agfood.ie, with full details available at gov.ie. The closing date for applications is November 6, 2023.
