Farmers in England and Wales are increasingly concerned about managing rising volumes of water on their farms. This year’s heavy rainfall has led to significantly higher slurry production for those collecting and containing rainfall falling on open dirty yard areas/open slurry stores, and silage pit surface areas. As a result of the increased rainfall, ground conditions have, for much of the year, been unsuitable for spreading the slurry back to the land.
What are the challenges farmers face?
- High rainfall – can result in increased volumes of slurry
- Livestock indoors for longer, creating more manure
- Not enough storage capacity to cope
- Can’t spread – not the right time of year or ground too wet
- Supply chain pressures from producers of sludge and digestate
- Regulatory compliance – making sure you’re not in breach of any regulations on storage or spreading of slurry
England
If you find yourself in a slurry storage deficit situation and can’t avoid spreading slurry without a risk of leaching, run-off, or breaching a regulation, you should contact the Environment Agency as soon as possible to discuss your options. The Environment Agency can be contacted on 03708 506 506 from Monday to Friday between 9.30am and 4.30pm. For out-of-hours assistance, or in case of an emergency, call the incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.
Possible options
- Identifying a temporary store in the area to take excess slurry.
- Spreading on low-risk land, outside of an NVZ, that is accessible and away from water and spreading at low rates to prevent stores from overflowing. If you are doing this, you must follow the Farming Rules for Water guidelines.
- Renting a slurry tank/ slurry bag as a temporary storage solution. The Environment Agency must be consulted 14 days prior to erecting.
- Housing livestock on solid/ straw bedding (where possible).
Wales
On the 1st of August, the final phase of ‘The Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations 2021’ (CoAPR) legislation came into effect which introduced closed periods for spreading high readily available Nitrogen manures (>30% available N) and storage capacity requirements for slurry and other manures. This winter will be the first time a total ban on slurry spreading has been enforced.
There are no derogations or exemptions from the regulations, but for farmers experiencing problems with spreading and storage, Natural Resources Wales (NRW) give the following advice:
- Farmers are advised to engage with NRW if they have concerns around full slurry stores during the closed period. NRW can be contacted 24 hours a day on 0300 065 3000.
- Any spreading of slurry within the closed period is a breach of the regulations and cross compliance variable standards.
- If farmers have considered all other practical steps to avoid over-topping or direct discharge to the environment and spreading on land is their last option, NRW can only advise on taking every precaution to minimise the risk to the environment, whilst noting this will be a breach of the regulations.
If there are extenuating circumstances, a farmer can appeal the breach with the Rural Inspectorate for Wales.
Review your storage & production figures
Even if you currently have enough storage to cover the rest of the spreading closed period, it is a good idea to review your storage and production figures to check how many months’ worth of storage you have. This will allow you to plan ahead, in case of further bad weather later in the season.
Further help and advice
For further help and advice, please contact our Agricultural Compliance team on 01981 590514.
