Sep12015
Published 1 September 2015
Last updated 22 July 2019 + show all updates
Aug262015
Updated: Form updated to make it editable.
See the Countryside Stewardship facilitation fund page for more information.
Aug182015
Updated: WPS/999/01 document added
The RWM packaging specifications take the form of a structured hierarchy with each level having a specific purpose. The Generic Waste Package Specification (GWPS) defines the requirements for all waste packages destined for geological disposal, and provides the basis for the definition of the Generic Specifications, which define the standards and specifications for waste packages containing specific categories of waste. The Generic Specifications are used to specify the requirements for the waste packages that could be manufactured using standardised designs of waste container, these being referred to as the Waste Package Specifications (WPS)
Please note that all the requirements from the document ‘Geological disposal – Generic Waste Package Specification’ have now been subsumed into the DSS Part B, verbatim. This document has therefore been superseded.
Aug132015
Updated: Updated airline and airports entries for PHS, Windsor Jet Management, Albinati Aviation, PHS, VIP Flight and Executive Jet Management.
You can only use these carriers and routes approved by the Animal and Plant Health Agency to bring your pet to England or Scotland. There are no approved routes to Wales.
You must follow pet travel rules. Ask your travel company if they have extra rules you must follow.
You don’t have to use an approved carrier or route if you travel to England, Scotland or Wales from:
Aug102015
Updated: Corrected link
You must follow this guidance if you use any manufactured fertilisers, manures or other materials that contain nitrogen on agricultural land in a nitrate vulnerable zone (NVZ).
Find out if you’re in an NVZ.
You must also follow the guidance on storing organic manures in NVZs and storing silage, slurry and agricultural fuel oil if you produce or import livestock manures.
The NVZs rules are part of the requirements for cross compliance, known as Statutory Management Requirement 1. You must meet cross compliance requirements to qualify for full payment under the basic payment scheme and other direct rural payments.
Nitrogen fertilisers can be manufactured (inorganic, bagged) fertilisers that you buy, other materials containing nitrogen (like waste soil) or organic manures that you produce or bring on to your holding.
Organic manures come from animals, plants or humans. They include:
There’s a limit on the average amount of manufactured fertiliser and crop-available nitrogen from organic manure that you can apply to most crops each year – this is known as the N-max limit.
These are shown in the following table:
| Crop | N-max limit (kilograms of nitrogen per hectare) | Standard crop yield (tonnes per hectare) |
|---|---|---|
| Autumn or early winter-sown wheat | 220 | 8 |
| Spring-sown wheat | 180 | 7 |
| Winter barley | 180 | 6.5 |
| Spring barley | 150 | 5.5 |
| Winter oilseed rape | 250 | 3.5 |
| Sugar beet | 120 | – |
| Potatoes | 270 | – |
| Forage maize | 150 | – |
| Field beans | 0 | – |
| Peas | 0 | – |
| Grass | 300 | – |
| Asparagus, carrots, radishes, swedes, individually or in any combination | 180 | – |
| Celery, courgettes, dwarf beans, lettuce, onions, parsnips, runner beans, sweetcorn, turnips individually or in any combination | 280 | – |
| Beetroot, brussels sprouts, cabbage, calabrese, cauliflower, leeks individually or in any combination | 370 | – |
You can apply more nitrogen to some crops if your expected yield is higher than the ‘standard crop yield’ shown in the table.
You can use an additional 80kg of nitrogen per hectare if you’ve used straw or paper sludge on the previous or current crop.
For wheat and barley, you can use an additional 20kg of nitrogen per hectare for every tonne that the expected yield exceeds the standard yield.
On milling wheat varieties, you can use an additional 40kg of nitrogen per hectare.
On autumn and winter-sown wheat and winter barley you can use an additional 20kg of nitrogen per hectare on fields with a shallow soil type (except on shallow soils over sandstone).
On winter oilseed rape you can use up to 250kg of nitrogen per hectare. This includes a maximum autumn (closed period) application of 30kg of nitrogen per hectare of manufactured nitrogen fertiliser.
If you use 30kg of nitrogen per hectare in the autumn, you can only use up to 220kg of nitrogen per hectare in the spring. However, you can increase this by an additional 30kg of nitrogen per hectare for every half tonne that the expected yield exceeds the standard yield.
On grass that’s cut at least 3 times in a year, you can use an additional 40kg of nitrogen per hectare.
You can use nitrogen up to the level recommended in writing by a FACTS-qualified adviser if you’re growing grass to achieve a protein content of at least 16% in the dried product.
If the land is irrigated, you must not use more than 700kg of nitrogen per hectare. If the land isn’t irrigated, you must not use more than 500kg of nitrogen per hectare.
In subsequent years, you must sample these fields between 1 September and 31 October for soil mineral nitrogen levels and give your FACTS-qualified adviser the results.
You can apply up to 170kg per hectare of nitrogen in livestock manure (including manure deposited directly by livestock and spreading) on your holding in each calendar year. This limit is the loading limit and applies as an average across your holding. It’s separate from the field limit of 250kg per hectare from organic manures.
You must not use more than 250kg of total nitrogen from all organic manures spread in any 12 month period on any single hectare of your land. This limit (the field limit) doesn’t include livestock manures deposited by grazing animals.
You must use standard values to work out how much nitrogen is produced by the livestock on your farm or bought on to your farm. You must plan so that you don’t exceed the limit.
You can find the standard values in the
.
You can apply for a ‘grassland derogation’ to increase this limit if more than 80% of your holding is grassland.
If the only organic manure you use is certified green or certified green/food compost, you can apply:
The compost that you use must not contain livestock manure and must be produced to the PAS100 protocol.
You must plan all your applications of nitrogen on each crop in each field (including grass). This is your fertilisation plan. You must keep it as part of your farm records.
To help with your plan, you can use farm software like PLANET or tools like the ‘Tried and Tested’ nutrient management tools.
You can also use the
to calculate how much nitrogen is available in different types of livestock manure.
Your plan must show you’ve taken the following steps before you apply nitrogen for the first time in a field where you’re going to plant a crop or have planted a crop:
You must also carry out steps 1 and 2 before you apply any nitrogen fertiliser or manure for the first time.
You must carry out steps 3 and 4 every time you apply nitrogen fertiliser or manure.
In subsequent growing seasons, before you apply nitrogen to any crop or land where you’re going to plant a crop (including grass) you must:
For permanent grassland, make your calculations based on the farming year starting on 1 January. Prepare a plan for any manure or fertiliser use for the year after that date.
Before you apply livestock manure, you must calculate the:
You can find the values you need for these calculations in the blank field records and standard values tables.
Before you apply other organic manures, work out the total amount of nitrogen and crop-available nitrogen using the technical analyses supplied by the fertiliser supplier (for example, on the delivery note).
Where these technical analyses are unavailable, typical values may be obtained from other sources such as the Fertiliser Manual (RB209) or MANNER-NPK software. The Fertiliser Manual refers to the total amount of nitrogen as ‘total nitrogen’. It refers to crop-available nitrogen as ‘nitrogen available to the next crop’.
You can also use values from your own sampling and analysis.
You must not spread any organic manure unless you have used one of these methods to work out the crop-available nitrogen in the manure before applying it to crops that have an N-max limit.
It’s an offence to allow fertiliser or organic manure to enter surface water (such as rivers or ponds).
You must inspect the field to assess the risk of nitrogen getting into surface water (for example, through runoff) before you spread any fertilisers or organic manures.
In particular, when assessing the risk of runoff, you need to take account of:
You must not spread any manufactured fertilisers or organic manures if a field is either:
You must not spread:
You must only spread manufactured nitrogen fertilisers and manures on agricultural land that you’re using to grow crops (including grass).
You must spread manufactured nitrogen fertilisers and organic manures as accurately as possible.
You can spread slurry, sewage sludge and anaerobic digestate no less than 6 metres from surface water if you use precision manure spreading equipment like:
You can spread straw-based solid manure (such as farmyard manure) within 10 metres of surface water on land that’s notified as a site of special scientific interest or managed under an agri-environment scheme if you meet one of the following conditions:
You must only spread between 1 June and 31 October and not:
Some organic fertilisers have more than 30% of their total nitrogen content immediately available to crops. These are called ‘high readily available nitrogen manures’.
They include:
If you use sewage sludge or slurry on your holding, you need to follow the rules in this guidance and separate rules on managing sewage sludge, slurry and silage.
You must not spread high readily available nitrogen manures on or between the dates shown in this table.
| On grassland | On tillage land | |
|---|---|---|
| Sandy or shallow soils | 1 Sep to 31 Dec | 1 Aug to 31 Dec |
| All other soils | 15 Oct to 31 Jan | 1 Oct to 31 Jan |
Your soil is sandy if it lies over sandstone or it has all the characteristics shown in this table:
| Layer of soil | Up to 40cm | From 40cm to 80cm |
|---|---|---|
| Content of the soil | more than 50% by weight of particles from 0.06mm to 2mm in diameter | more than 70% by weight of particles from 0.06mm to 2mm in diameter |
| less than 18% by weight of particles less than 0.02mm in diameter | less than 15% by weight of particles less than 0.02mm in diameter | |
| less than 5% by weight of organic carbon | less than 5% by weight of organic carbon |
Your soil is shallow if it’s less than 40cm deep
If you sow a crop on sandy or shallow tillage land on or before 15 September, you can apply manures with high readily available nitrogen between 1 August and 15 September inclusive.
If you’re an organic farmer, or you’re formally converting to organic status, you can spread manures with high readily available nitrogen in the periods shown in the table.
You must not spread more than 150kg of total nitrogen per hectare.
| Crop | When you can spread nitrogen | Additional limits on spreading |
|---|---|---|
| Asparagus, overwintered salad onions, parsley, bulb onions | from the start of the closed period to the end of February | |
| Brassica | from the start of the closed period until harvest | no more than 50kg of nitrogen per hectare every 4 weeks |
| Winter oilseed rape | from the start of the closed period to the end of October | |
| Grass | from the start of the closed period to the end of October | no more than 40kg at any one time |
You must not spread more than 30 m 3 /ha of slurry or 8 tonnes/ha of poultry manure in a single application from the end of the closed period until the end of February. You must allow at least 3 weeks between each individual application.
The poultry manure limit remains the same but the slurry limit has been reduced from 50 m 3 to 30 m 3.
You must only spread slurry using precision spreading equipment or equipment that either:
When you spread manure on bare soil or stubble (except if it’s been sown with seed), you must:
You don’t have to work in slurry and liquid-digested sludge if you have applied it using a trailing hose, shoe band spreader, dribble bar applicator or an injector.
You must not spread manufactured nitrogen fertiliser on or between the following dates (closed periods):
You can spread manufactured nitrogen fertiliser during the closed period if you grow the crops listed in the table and you keep to the limits and times shown.
If you grow crops that aren’t listed in the table, you must have written advice from a FACTS-qualified adviser before you spread manufactured nitrogen fertilisers.
| Crop | Maximum amount of nitrogen you can spread within the closed period on each hectare |
|---|---|
| Winter oilseed rape | 30kg (you must not spread nitrogen after 31 October) |
| Asparagus | 50kg |
| Brassica | 100kg (no more than 50kg can be applied every 4 weeks, up to the date on which you harvest the crop) |
| Grass | 80kg (you can apply a maximum of 40kg at any one time, and you must not spread nitrogen after 31 October) |
| Over-wintered salad onions | 40kg |
| Parsley | 40kg |
| Bulb onions | 40kg |
You don’t need to keep to limits on fertiliser use on land inside greenhouses, glasshouses and polytunnels where the land is enclosed for the whole calendar year. If land is exposed to the open air at any time (for example, if you uncover a polytunnel) the limits apply for the whole of that year.
You don’t need to keep records of your use of nitrogen fertilisers or the yield of arable crops in a greenhouse.
You’re a low-intensity farmer if all of the following apply to you:
You don’t have to keep a record of your actual applications of manufactured fertiliser and organic manure in each field. You must have recorded information to show that you meet the criteria for low-intensity farms. You must still plan your nitrogen use by keeping a fertilisation plan.
When calculating your fertiliser applications, you must not include any area of your holding where you don’t spread any fertiliser or work the soil (for example, on rough grazing areas).
You must keep all records of your fertiliser use for at least 5 years.
You must keep records of each step in your fertilisation plan for each field in which you use nitrogen fertiliser.
Record the:
Record the:
You must also keep a copy of any advice from a FACTS-qualified adviser with your plan.
You can estimate your expected yield using your farm records for previous crops.
Record the:
Record the:
You must update your field records within 1 week of sowing, spreading fertiliser or harvesting a crop.
When you sow a crop on which you’re going to spread nitrogen fertiliser, record the type of crop and the date you sowed it on.
Record the date of spreading and the amount of nitrogen you spread.
Record the:
You must keep evidence of:
You must keep original laboratory reports of any sampling and analysis you have done to find out the nitrogen content in organic manure that you use.
You must record the yield of any arable crop on which nitrogen fertiliser has been used, within one week of finding it out.
You must keep an up-to-date record of the total size of your holding and update it within 1 month if it changes. This applies to you if the change in area isn’t land covered by a greenhouse.
The total size of your holding must include any area not covered by greenhouses and excludes surface waters, any hardstanding (areas for parking vehicles), buildings, roads or any woodland (unless that woodland is used for grazing).
You must make a risk map and keep it with your farm records if you spread organic manure on your land. You must mark on the map:
Your risk map can be printed or drawn by hand and it doesn’t need to be to scale.
You must update the map with any changes within 3 months of the date of the change.
For the previous calendar year, you must complete a record by 30 April showing:
Within 1 week of bringing livestock manure (including poultry manure and slurry) onto your holding or sending it off, you must record:
If you don’t know the nitrogen content of imported manure, you must find this out (by analysis or calculation) as soon as possible, and then record it within a week.
You must follow the Code of Good Agricultural Practice for nitrates if you claim direct payments other than those under the basic payment scheme (for example, agri-environment payments).
The Environment Agency enforces the NVZ rules. Its officers select which farms to inspect. If you have land in an NVZ and don’t comply with the NVZ rules, you may be prosecuted and fined.
The Rural Payments Agency inspects a proportion of farmers who claim under the cross-compliance scheme. If you have land in an NVZ and don’t comply with the NVZ rules your payment may be reduced.
Contact the Farming Advice Service for more information on using nitrogen fertilisers and manures in NVZs, and other requirements of cross compliance.
Telephone: 03000 200 301 (Monday to Friday, 8.30am to 5pm). (See call charges)