The Control of Agricultural Pollution Regulations

The Welsh Government has announced the introduction of regulatory measures to address agricultural pollution in Wales, the Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations 2021.

An initial set of measures will apply from 1 April 2021; the remainder will be phased in over a period of 3 years.

The Regulations focus on the environmental risk from poor manure management and are based on current good practice recommendations.  In summary, the regulations include the following requirements:

• Nutrient management planning;
• Sustainable fertiliser and manure applications linked to the requirement of the crop;
• Protection of water from pollution related to when, where and how fertilisers are spread; and
• Manure and silage storage standards.

Whilst the initial measures are associated with best practice, a longer timeframe allows for the introduction of those measures which for some may require more significant change.

Welsh Government has made support available to farmers through the Rural Development Plan’s Farm Business Grant (FBG) and Sustainable Production Grant (SPG) schemes to improve nutrient management and to reduce farm pollution. 

We offer a number of resources to help achieve compliance with these new regulations:

Slurry storage

Our Slurry Wizard allows to user, given some farm-specific data, to calculate the slurry storage capacity required for the farm, to explore various storage solutions to meet regulatory requirements and quantifies some cost benefits

Nutrient management

An accurate an up to date nutrient management plan is essential in order to comply with the new regulations. A plan can be created in many ways using farm management software such as PLANET or other commercially available solutions.

Our Nutrient Management Guide (RB209) provides information on nutrient management and grassland requirements to help develop a nutrient management plan and ensure optimum manure utilisation.

Grassland management

Forage for Knowledge provides the latest grass growth and quality figures, along with the latest updates and resources to maximise use of home-grown grass and forage.