Producers who flocked to the Muck NorthWest event in Cheshire last week to get an up-to-date picture of application techniques and latest rules were urged not to fall back on the NVZ nitrogen limit derogation as an opportunity to put off the inevitable.

“The time for sticking your head in the sand is past,” said one commentator. “Complying with the derogation requirements won’t be easy and do you really want to flag up that you’ve got a major problem complying with the NVZ rules?”

There are two key issues here. One is having sufficient capacity to store slurry over the periods when application is not permitted. The other is having enough land to use manure and slurry without exceeding the 170kg/acre of N annual limit.

Reaseheath College, which hosted the new event, has been planning for the new regulations for two years, said farm manager Sam Grundy.

“We’ve taken on more land and we’re going to install some additional storage capacity,” he explained. “Isolation of run-off water is an important issue because that can have quite an impact on the amount of slurry storage you need.”

NFU regional policy adviser Helen Little pointed out that capital grants for dirty water systems are available to producers from the North West Development Agency’s livestock programme.

The Environment Agency, which sponsored the one-day demonstration, advised producers to check whether planning permission is needed for either extended or new slurry storage facilities and to check plans with the agency before work gets underway.

“Sites have to be inspected for suitability 14 days before use and that’s a bit late to discover a new store is in the wrong place,” warned Steve Penton, agriculture specialist. “And also bear in mind that now we’ve been given the job of policing the NVZ scheme – we can check for compliance but we can’t do the calculations for farmers as we did before.”