If your farm is in a nitrate vulnerable zone (NVZ), an area designated as being at risk from agricultural nitrate pollution, you must comply with nitrate vulnerable zone rules. The NVZ rules came into force on 1 January 2009, replacing the old NVZ action programme measures.
If you don’t comply with the NVZ rules, you may be prosecuted and fined. Farmers must also comply with the NVZ rules to be entitled to their full subsidy payment under the single payment scheme (SPS).
Is your farm in an NVZ?
The areas covered by NVZs were extended in 2008. All farms in NVZs must now comply with the NVZ rules.
You can find out if your farm is in an NVZ in England by looking at the maps on the Defra website.
Defra: Maps of nitrate vulnerable zones
What you must do
If your farm is in an NVZ:
- You must not apply more nitrogen than your crops require. The NVZ rules set limits for certain crops on the amount of nitrogen from livestock manure and manufactured nitrogen fertilisers you can use.
- You must plan your nitrogen use before making any applications.
- You must produce a risk map for any land where you intend to spread organic manures.
- You must comply with limitations on spreading manufactured nitrogen fertilisers and organic manures.
- You must not exceed a loading of 170kg of total nitrogen per hectare per year (N/ha/year) from livestock manures averaged over the total area of your farm. This includes manure applied by spreading and manure deposited by grazing animals. This limit only applies to manure from grazing cattle, sheep, goats, deer, horses, pigs and poultry.
- You must comply with closed periods for spreading organic manures and manufactured nitrogen fertilisers.
- You must provide adequate storage capacity for livestock manures. You must have sufficient storage in place by 1 January 2012 at the latest.
- You must keep records of the nitrogen applied to each of your fields, and some records and calculations relating to your farm as a whole. You must keep all records for at least five years.
Apply for the derogation for grassland farmers
If you are a grassland farmer and meet certain conditions, you may be able to apply for a derogation from the 170kg N/ha/year limit on the amount of manure from grazing livestock you can put on your farm. The derogation would allow you to farm up to a limit of 250kg N/ha/year.
To be eligible for a derogation at least 80 per cent of your farm must be grassland, and you must have sufficient land to comply with the 250kg N/ha/year limit. If your application is approved you will have to comply with additional requirements.
Defra: Leaflet 5a - Guidance for farmers in nitrate vulnerable zones - The derogated livestock manure N farm limit (Adobe PDF - 606KB)
You have to apply for a derogation each year. You can apply for the derogation online via the Whole Farm Approach (WFA) website.
Defra: Whole Farm Approach
Alternatively, you can apply by telephone or get a paper application form by calling the Environment Agency’s Derogation Line on 0845 603 3113.
You must apply for 2011 derogations between 1 October and 31 December 2010.
Follow Defra’s NVZ guidance leaflets
In England, you must follow Defra’s guidance leaflets on the NVZ rules for farmers.
Defra: Help for farmers in NVZs - guidance leaflets
Further information on NVZs in England
Defra: Nitrate Vulnerable Zones in England
Tried and Tested: Nutrient management plan (Adobe PDF - 1.6MB)
You can use software tools to help with some of the calculations required under the NVZ rules. These are available free of charge from the Planet website, or by calling 08456 023864.
Planet - nutrient management
The Environment Agency has produced a set of questions and answers and detailed fact sheets on NVZ issues.
Environment Agency: NVZs guidance
