Your interim N and P statement is on MyAgFood: what it means and what to do before 31 December

Your interim nitrogen and phosphorus statement is DAFM's running count of organic nitrogen from your cattle, 1 January to 31 August 2026. It is set against the land on your BISS. It is a warning light, not a verdict. The number that counts is the full-year average against your limit: 170 kg N/ha, or 220 or 250 kg N/ha with a derogation. Four nitrates records for 2026 close on 31 December.

Checked 26 October 2026. Every figure here comes from DAFM pages on gov.ie or from Teagasc, fetched today. DAFM has not published a sample statement. This piece describes what its own guides say the statement holds, not a screen we have sat in front of. DAFM says real-time figures and sheep data are coming to MyAgFood "shortly". They were not live when we checked.

What is the interim N and P statement?

DAFM published the interim bovine statements on MyAgFood on 15 September 2026. They cover 1 January to 31 August. Cattle only.

The rule behind them is simple. Under the Nitrates regulations (S.I. 588 of 2025), you cannot apply more than 170 kg of nitrogen from livestock manure per hectare per year. That includes what the animals leave on the field themselves. About 7,000 farms hold a derogation that lifts the limit to 220 or 250 kg N/ha. Our 2026 derogation guide covers how that was renewed and what it costs.

DAFM's own FAQ explains how the number is built. Every animal type has a designated nitrogen excretion figure. DAFM counts the animals on your herd number each day, applies the figure, and compares the total with the land declared on your BISS. Compliance is the average over the year. You do not have to be under the limit every day.

The statement shows nitrogen and phosphorus from cattle only. Sheep, pigs, poultry and horses are not in it. If you keep them, you work out their figure and add it yourself. DAFM's derogation terms say so in plain words.

Where do you find it on MyAgFood?

DAFM's step-by-step guide gives the route. Log in at myagfood.ie with your username, password and one-time code. First-time users set up two-factor authentication with their PUC number. Select the "Nitrates" icon, then "Nitrogen phosphorus statements". The "Exports" tab on the left holds every movement in and out, with its status.

Your advisor can see the same screen as an agent, once the client association is in place. The agent report has a quirk worth knowing. Exports entered for months the statement does not yet cover show in red. An export recorded for November sits in red until the November data arrives.

Is your farm a 220 or a 250?

If you hold a derogation, the limit is set parcel by parcel on DAFM's Maximum Nitrates Derogation Stocking Rate Limits map. Some areas dropped to 220 kg N/ha in January 2024 after the water quality review. More followed in December 2025. Everywhere else stays at 250 kg N/ha for 2026.

You can check a parcel inside your own BISS application. DAFM's FAQ lists seven steps. Open BISS on MyAgFood and go to land details. Choose "View Map" for the parcel, then open "Layers". Tick "Max Derogation Stocking Rate Limit Map" under Reference Layers and click "Update". A blue layer means 220 since January 2024. A yellow layer means 220 since December 2025. No colour means 250. DAFM's FAQ says that if any part of a parcel has no coloured layer, the whole parcel stays at 250.

Two more limits sit inside the same calculation. Land more than 30 km from your farm hub is capped at 170 kg N/ha. The exception is land where you can show rotational grazing or active milking facilities. Commonage is capped at 50 kg N/ha. Water quality in your catchment decides which colour you get, and our guide to finding your catchment report shows where that evidence lives.

Why does the dairy band change the number so much?

A dairy cow's nitrogen figure depends on the herd's milk yield band. DAFM's banding FAQ, updated 22 September 2026, gives three bands. A cow counts 80 kg N under 4,500 kg of milk, 92 kg between 4,500 and 6,500 kg, and 106 kg above that. Teagasc puts the jump into the top band at a 16% rise in nitrogen.

Herds that did not confirm a band by 15 May were defaulted to 106 kg. DAFM said on 15 September that a small minority of dairy farmers were still sitting there. You can fix it on the ICBF website until midnight on 31 December 2026. After that the default stands for the year and late submissions are not processed.

Crude protein is the second lever. If you declared through ICBF that your 2025 concentrates averaged a lower crude protein, DAFM applies a lower excretion rate. At 13% or less, the three bands fall to 76, 87 and 98 kg N per cow. Between 13% and 14% they are 78, 89 and 100. Between 14% and 15% they are 79, 90 and 103. You can switch to another crude protein level, or back to the default, on ICBF up to 31 December 2026. If an inspection finds you fed more protein than you declared, the band is corrected to what was fed.

One illustrative sum shows the scale. Take 100 cows in the middle band: 9,200 kg N. On 40 hectares that is 230 kg N/ha, before any other stock is counted. With the 13% crude protein rate recognised, the same herd is 8,700 kg N, or 218 kg N/ha. That is the difference between over and under a 220 limit, from paperwork alone.

How far wrong can the interim number be?

Further than you might think. It is honest about what it is: eight months of animal days. Five things can move it before the final statement.

1. Autumn sales. Weanlings and cull cows sold in September and October drop out for the days they are gone. Everything you keep counts every day to 31 December.
2. Unrecorded exports. Slurry or dung moved off the farm since 31 August is not in it. Nor is any export the importer has not verified. DAFM's guidance is blunt: if the importer fails to verify in time, the figures for both farms are not adjusted.
3. Paper records still to come. A temporary move of cattle to a holding with no cattle needs a Record 4. Rented forage ground needs a Record 5. Both are forms with a 31 December deadline, and nothing from either shows until DAFM processes it.
4. The dairy band default. A herd left at 106 kg N per cow is carrying 14 kg a head more than a confirmed middle-band herd.
5. Other livestock. Sheep, horses and pigs are missing from the statement entirely, and your limit is for all of them together.

There is a second reason to care, even if you have no derogation. DAFM's 31 March release says the previous year's stocking rate sets each farm's grassland fertiliser allowance. Your full-year 2026 number sets your grassland fertiliser allowance for 2027.

What changes the year-end number? Four actions

1. Export slurry or farmyard manure, with the online record. Every export off the holding must be declared within four days of the movement. You do it on MyAgFood or the Organic Nutrient Movement app. The export date can only be picked from the five days before you enter it, so there is no backdating. DAFM shows the total nitrogen and phosphorus on screen before you click "Add Export", and nothing can be amended afterwards. The importer gets a text and must verify. For movements from 1 July to 31 December 2026, verification is due by 14 January 2027. Check the closed period in our slurry and fertiliser deadlines guide before you move anything. A derogation farm must still have storage for the whole closed period.

2. Declare internal movements by 31 December 2026, if the rule applies to you. This is not every farm. DAFM's 10 September notice names two cases. One is a derogation farmer claiming the higher allowance on land more than 30 km from the hub. The other is a dairy farmer whose milking platform is stocked above 259 kg organic N/ha. You enter the date, the volume and type, and the LPIS parcel the manure went to. From 1 January 2027 the window is four days.

3. Sell or move stock. A sale through the mart or factory updates AIM, and the statement follows AIM. Cattle moved temporarily to another farm that has cattle are an AIM move too. Cattle moved to a holding with no cattle need a Record 4, posted or emailed to the Nitrates Section by 31 December 2026. Because the year is an average, selling ten animals in late November removes only their last few weeks, not their year.

4. Rent extra ground, on a Record 5. Rented grazing or forage ground taken in 2026 goes on a Record 5, with LPIS numbers. The deadline is 31 December 2026. Read the form's small print. DAFM says Record 5 land counts only for the whole-farm nitrates calculation. It does not count towards your grassland stocking rate, which runs off the eligible grassland on your BISS. And if that land was claimed under someone's 2026 ANC, it had to be withdrawn before 16 September 2026 to avoid a penalty. That date has passed.

There is a fifth job for dairy farms, and it is the cheapest one. Confirm the band and the crude protein option on ICBF before 31 December. It costs nothing and it moves every cow at once.

What does the final statement look like, and what are the penalties?

The full-year statement arrives the following year. The 2025 statements were on MyAgFood by 31 March 2026, the day the derogation window opened. Expect the 2026 figure on the same rhythm. That is the number DAFM compares with your limit.

For a derogation farm, DAFM's 2026 terms are plain. Exceed the applicable whole-farm organic N limit and the derogation is rejected. The 170 kg N/ha limit then applies, a penalty follows if you are over it, and you are not eligible for a derogation in 2027. Exceeding the limit is also a conditionality breach, so the BISS penalty schedule applies. The option to withdraw a 2026 application closed on 30 September 2026.

For a farm without a derogation, the 170 kg limit is a Statutory Management Requirement under conditionality. Going over it puts your BISS payment into the same penalty schedule. DAFM's Nitrates Section is at nitrates@agriculture.gov.ie or 053 916 3425.

What can an app or AI assistant do here?

Honestly, not the hard part. The arithmetic is multiplication and division: animals, times a DAFM excretion figure, times days, divided by hectares. Teagasc's Excel banding calculator has done that sum since 2023. A general AI assistant can do the same, with two real uses.

First, a what-if table. Paste in your interim figure, your hectares, your limit and your plans for the last four months. It will show which lever moves the kg/ha most. Second, drafting the questions for your advisor, with the numbers already in them.

What it cannot do matters more. It cannot see AIM, your statement or your exports. It does not know whether your parcel is blue, yellow or blank on DAFM's map. It will guess excretion rates unless you give it DAFM's figures, and it cannot submit a movement, a Record 4 or a band confirmation. Treat it as a calculator that talks, and check its sums against DAFM's own numbers.

A prompt that works, with your own numbers in the brackets:

"I farm in Ireland under the Nitrates regulations. DAFM's interim statement says my cattle produced [X] kg of organic N from 1 January to 31 August 2026. My BISS land is [Y] hectares and my limit is [170 / 220 / 250] kg N/ha. Use these DAFM excretion figures: [paste the categories you have]. Between now and 31 December I could do three things. Sell [n] animals on [date]. Export [m] cubic metres of cattle slurry in [month]. Rent [h] hectares on a Record 5. Build a table of the full-year kg N/ha for each option and for all of them together. State every assumption. List what you cannot know from this."

Leave your herd number out of it. The sums do not need it.

Frequently asked questions

Does the interim statement include my sheep?

No. DAFM's statement covers nitrogen and phosphorus from cattle only. You calculate sheep, horses, pigs and poultry yourself and add them to the cattle figure. DAFM says future statements on MyAgFood will include sheep data, and farmers will be notified when that is live.

I sold cattle in September. Will that show on the statement?

Not on the January to August statement. Sales update AIM, and DAFM counts animals present each day, so the sold animals stop counting from the day they left. The effect appears in the full-year figure, and only for the days after the sale.

Can I backdate a slurry export I forgot to record?

No. The online form lets you choose an export date only from the five days before you enter it, in line with the four-day rule. DAFM's guidance says late movements will not be accepted. The importer must also verify the movement, or neither farm's figures change.

I have no derogation. Does any of this matter to me?

Yes, on two counts. The 170 kg N/ha limit applies to every farm and is a conditionality requirement, so a breach runs into the BISS penalty schedule. And your 2026 stocking rate sets your 2027 grassland fertiliser allowance, derogation or not.

The bottom line

Open the statement this week, add any sheep or horses, and compare the figure with your limit for the full year. If you are close, you have four levers. Exports recorded within four days. Stock sales through AIM. A Record 4 or Record 5 by 31 December. The dairy band on ICBF. The paperwork deadline is 31 December 2026, and the slurry record cannot be backdated.