The Teagasc board has intervened in a dispute between farmers and the Department of Agriculture over its definition of soiled water under the nitrates directive.
Farmers say that they had been advised at meetings to explain the rules of the nitrates directive that water used for cleaning milking parlours and the zone around feeding areas would be treated as slurry under the new regime.
As slurry, unlike soiled water, has to be stored for the winter, this will increase the need for extra storage, and failure to have this extra storage could lead to farmers being penalised and losing a portion of their EU payments.
Last weekend the board of Teagasc, the agriculture and food development authority, instructed its acting director, Tom Kirley, to seek an urgent meeting with the department on the issue.