Article 5 Application of manure and other fertilisers
United Kingdom
The amount of livestock manure from grazing livestock applied to the land each year on grassland farms, including by the animals themselves, shall not exceed the amount of manure containing 250 kg nitrogen per hectare, subject to the conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 to 7.
The total nitrogen inputs shall comply with the nutrient demand of the considered crop and the supply from the soil.
A fertilisation plan shall be kept for each farm describing the crop rotation of the farmland and the planned application of manure and nitrogen and phosphate fertilisers. It shall be available on the farm by 1 February at the latest.
The fertilisation plan shall include the following:
the number of livestock, a description of the housing and storage system, including the volume of manure storage available;
a calculation of manure nitrogen (less losses in housing and storage) and phosphorus produced on the farm;
the crop rotation and acreage for each crop, including a sketch map indicating location of individual fields;
the foreseeable nitrogen and phosphorus crop requirements;
the amount and the type of manure delivered to contractors not used on the farm land;
the amount of imported manure used on the farm land;
a calculation of the contribution from organic matter mineralization, leguminous crops and atmospheric deposition and amount of nitrogen present in the soil at the moment when the crop starts to use it to a significant degree;
nitrogen and phosphorus application from manure over each field (parcels of the farm, homogeneous regarding cropping and soil type);
application of nitrogen and phosphorus with chemical and other fertilisers over each field;
calculations for assessment of compliance with nitrogen and phosphorus application standards.
Plans shall be revised no later than seven days following any changes in agricultural practices to ensure consistency between plans and actual agricultural practices.
Fertilisation accounts shall be kept by each farm. They shall be submitted to the competent authority for each calendar year. They shall set out the following:
the crop acreages;
the number and type of livestock;
the manure production per animal;
the amount of fertilisers imported by the farm;
the amount of manure offloaded from the farm and to whom.
Each grassland farm benefiting from an individual derogation shall accept that fertiliser application and account can be subject to control.
Periodic nitrogen and phosphorous analysis in soil shall be performed for each farm which benefits from an individual derogation at least every four years for each homogeneous area of the farm, with regard to crop rotation and soil characteristics.
Nitrogen analysis in respect of mineral nitrogen and parameters to assess the nitrogen contribution from organic matter mineralisation shall be performed after ploughing grassland, for each homogeneous area of the farm.
In respect of the analyses referred to in the first and the second subparagraph, one analysis per five hectares of land shall be required as a minimum.
Manure may not be spread in the autumn before grass cultivation.