Under the terms of a new Red Tractor standard, Farmers in England should only be using urea that has been treated with a urease inhibitor from 1st April 2024. The rule forms part of a new voluntary industry scheme, which is designed to help the government achieve its ammonia emissions reduction targets, without the need for full regulations or a urea ban.
The Government was initially exploring an outright ban on untreated urea fertiliser to ensure that emissions of ammonia are reduced as part of the UK meeting legally bound targets which it is at risk of breaching. However, following consultation, an agreement was reached in 2023 that would allow the industry to self-regulate, termed Option 4. This self-regulation scheme proposed by the farming industry has been incorporated into a Red Tractor standard which came into effect on 1st April 2024.
The uptake of the scheme will be monitored through fertiliser sales and treatment data, Red Tractor monitoring data, and the British Survey of Fertiliser Practice.
Red Tractor Standard – Option 4 requirements
From the 1st of April 2024 fertiliser containing urea must only be applied where the following requirements are met:
- Protected/inhibited fertilisers containing solid urea can be applied within any product use-by/best before dates.
- Protected/inhibited fertilisers containing liquid urea can be applied with the prescribed rate of protector/inhibitor for the application, and within any product use-by/best before dates.
- In England, unprotected/uninhibited solid fertiliser containing urea can only be applied between 15th January and 31st March.
- In England, unprotected/uninhibited liquid fertiliser containing urea can be applied between 15th January and 31st March.
- In England, unprotected/uninhibited liquid fertiliser containing urea can be applied between 1st April and last application in autumn only if agronomic justification is provided by FACTS-qualified farm personnel or advice specific for the crop has been provided by a FACTS – Qualified Adviser and been followed.
- In Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, fertiliser containing urea (solid and liquid) can be applied as per relevant legislation.
It’s important to note that liquid urea can be used without an inhibitor after 1st April where agronomic justification has been provided by FACTS-qualified farm personnel or advisers, though such justifications are limited, and the farm personnel or adviser must be on the FACTS Professional Register – this means they must have accumulated sufficient CPD points each year since obtaining the original qualification.
They can provide the following justifications:
- Liquid fertiliser is incorporated by injection or within 48 hours of application by irrigation or cultivations; or
- liquid fertiliser formulations that are targeted at foliar uptake by the use of ag-chem nozzles, in accordance with their application recommendations.
While these justifications are effective alternatives to inhibitors, they are intended as a guide for making decisions and, depending on local circumstances, FACTS qualified and updated farm personnel and advisers may also take factors like surface soil moisture, crop cover, and soil type into account, although these factors may be less effective in reducing ammonia emissions and the use of an appropriate inhibitor may be more beneficial in reducing nitrogen loss.
Read more at: New urea rules – essential information – NFUonline
Non-compliance
Businesses not complying with the new standard after 1st April 2024 will be required to undertake a NEW BASIS module: Reducing Ammonia Emissions. The module, which has been funded and developed in collaboration with AIC, AICC, CLA, NIAB, Red Tractor and the NFU, is designed to give farmers the knowledge and tools to reduce ammonia emissions from both manufactured fertilisers and organic materials in livestock housing, storage and when applied to land.
Further information
Farmers are being encouraged to take part in the BASIS module: How to Reduce Ammonia Emissions from Farming which has been developed with the industry.
