Article 5 Application of manure and other fertilisers
United Kingdom
The amount of livestock manure applied to the land each year on cattle farms, including by the animals themselves, shall not exceed the amount of manure containing 230 kg of nitrogen per hectare, subject to the conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 to 8.
The total nitrogen inputs shall comply with the nutrient demand of the considered crop and the supply from the soil. Total nitrogen application from fertilisers shall not exceed 280 kg per hectare per year.
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 in the farm each calendar year by 1 March 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 in 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 outside the farm land;
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.
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 prepared by each farm. They shall be submitted to the competent authority for each calendar year.
Each farm benefiting from an individual derogation shall accept that the application referred to in paragraph 1 of Article 4, the fertilisation plan and the fertilisation accounts 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 once every four years for each homogeneous area of the farm, with regard to crop rotation and soil characteristics. At least one analysis every five hectares of land shall be required.
Manure shall not be spread in the autumn before grass cultivation.
Fertiliser shall not be applied to land within 30 m of a lake.