Farmers in England have been granted a temporary reprieve from rules preventing the autumn spreading of slurry and manure on some land, after the Environment Agency (EA) agreed to relax enforcement until the end of February 2022.

The agency issued a regulatory position statement (RPS) on Tuesday 3 August indicating that no enforcement action would be taken against farmers who apply organic manure exceeding the needs of the soil or a growing crop, provided there was no pollution risk and they informed the EA.

It is a temporary measure which is designed to give farmers time to adjust to Rule 1 of the Farming Rules for Water which regulates application of organic manures in the autumn.

See also: Farming rules for water: What’s in store?

It recognises that issues could arise around storage this autumn because, although the rules have been in place since 2018, industry awareness of them is low.

Under the terms of the RPS, applications are not allowed on bare land and farmers will still have to show that applications do not exceed the requirements of a crop for the duration of its growing cycle – and the rate must not allow more than 5kg/ha of nitrate-nitrogen to be leached.

There are also conditions around the type of land where spreading will be permitted, with fields where there is a high risk of leaching and run-off excluded.

Farmers will need to carry out regular checks before, during and after spreading to ensure no pollution is taking place.

The EA said it would monitor how farmers used and complied with this RPS through “proportionate, risk-based inspection and monitoring activity”.

The RPS is set to expire on 1 March 2022, unless the EA decides to extend it, and from that date farmers will have to comply with Rule 1 or face enforcement action.

Farming organisations had been lobbying Defra and the EA for longer-term solutions to the rule around autumn spreading.

Industry concerns

The Country, Land and Business Association said the new guidance had shown that the EA had taken industry concerns on board, but it said there would still be a big impact on many farms, both practically and economically.

NFU deputy president Stuart Roberts said the guidance set an “idealistic and impractical barrier” for many farming situations and was a missed opportunity to provide clarity on how Rule 1 was being interpreted.

Meanwhile, the number of EA regulatory inspectors is set to increase by 50, to 78.

According to the job advert, new recruits must be “willing to undertake regulatory enforcement action, prosecutions and the serving of notices, when needed”.

Although farmers will face more inspections, they will also receive additional advice and funding to tackle pollution.

Further details on the RPS can be found at gov.uk.