Multi species swards can dramatically reduce nitrogen use and help to improve soil health.
Research has been ongoing into multi species swards for a long time, but farm-scale research is still in the early stages.
As farmers are now required to reduce fertiliser use, this is the first advantage these types of swards have, with up to 40% of the mixture made up of legumes. Going over the 40% mark with legumes can result in nitrate leaching. The remainder of these swards are made up of grasses and herbs.
Aside from fertiliser reductions, these swards boast many potential benefits, including increased soil health, positive effects on animal health and an improvement in drought tolerance.
The exceedances were detected as part of Irish Water’s public water supply monitoring programme.
There were 81 breaches of pesticide limits detected in public drinking water supplies in Ireland in 2020, Irish Water has said. Irish Water is asking farmers, greens keepers, grounds keepers and domestic users, to consider whether they need to use pesticides at all.
This in an increase of five from 2019 and the exceedances were detected as part of Irish Water’s public water supply monitoring programme.
It found that MCPA, used in the control of thistles, docks and rushes, is still the most commonly detected pesticide in drinking water sources.
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Officials say the agreement will take time, pointing to the end of 2021 at the earliest.
The European Commission and Mercosur trade bloc are considering a bilateral trade agreement which would provide ‘robust reassurances’ to help address environmental concerns around Brazil’s Amazon rainforest.
The announcement was made by DG trade officials at last week’s trade policy committee on 22 March.
The understanding is hoped to be translated into a legal instrument, which would measure progress on the ground.
Officials acknowledged that the increased pace of forest fires in the Amazon, coupled with deforestation in Brazil, gave rise to criticism among stakeholders.
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EU limits mean that the pesticide cannot exceed 0.1 microgram/L or one part in 10 billion.
Lockdown gardening has been blamed for a rise in the number of breaches of pesticide limits in water supplies last year. They rose from 82 breaches in 2019 to 91 in 2020.
Speaking at a Teagasc Signpost webinar, John Keogh of the Animal and Plant Health Association said there had been an increase in both the number of pesticide exceedances and the number of water supplies affected. This came after a steady and significant decline in exceedances since 2017.
Gylphosate breaches increased to 10 and, while Keogh could not give a definite reason for the increase, he did state: “That may reflect activity in relation to lockdown and people being overly zealous about maintaining hard surfaces.”