New tool aids pig farmers with NVZ calculation

BPEX has produced two calculators to help pig farmers complete the calculations required by Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (NVZ) regulations.

The Excel spreadsheets will ease the burden for all pig producers, with one calculator for batch systems and another for continuous throughput systems.

By 30 April 2010, farmers with land in existing NVZs must work out how much nitrogen their livestock produce while those in new NVZs who produce slurry must calculate how much slurry storage they need to comply with the restrictions. Slurry producers in existing NVZs should already have done the latter calculation.

Producers have already received the information and guidelines on NVZ calculations, but there are many who have yet to tackle them. Now is the time to get them done, and these calculators make it much easier, says BPEX environment projects manager Charles Baines.

“Farmers will be able to use the spreadsheet results to demonstrate a record of calculations if Environment Agency auditors ask to see them.”

The calculations require farmers to use DEFRA’s standard industry figures. But DEFRA based its figures on a typical continuous flow system and it has proved difficult for producers with batch systems to adjust their calculations as required. This is one of the reasons BPEX produced the calculators – to help both batch and continuous flow producers do the sums as simply as possible.

To access the calculators, producers need to go to the following web address and click on the calculator applicable to their unit: http://www.bpex.org.uk/PracticalAdvice/environmentHub/NVZs.aspx