NVZs not so much of a hassle
ABOUT 55% OF land in England is designated as a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone or NVZ. Designed to reduce nitrate leaching from manure and fertiliser, similar schemes operate in Scotland, N Ireland and Wales.
Shuttleworth College farm, in Bedfordshire, falls into an NVZ. When manager Guy Kiddy checked the rules he imagined they would generate plenty of expensive headaches on the 80ha (200-acre) unit.
“The farm is an important part of the college teaching facilities, which makes it essential that matters such as NVZ compliance are properly dealt with,” says Mr Kiddy. “We have to take the regulations very seriously and if we fail to do so we would be setting a bad example. It could also be embarrassing because the college is in the public eye.”
Nitrate leaching is a potential problem because the arable and stock farm”s free-draining greensand allows easy movement of water. Sources of nitrate include fertiliser and manure from the college”s 35-horse stables and a pig unit.
Mr Kiddy”s first step towards meeting the NVZ requirements was to make an assessment of the risks.
He drew a farm map showing the location of the potential pollution targets – a brook running through the farm and ornamental lakes adjoining pasture and arable land. Areas where light soils and steep slopes increase leaching and run-off risks are also highlighted.
Adding soil analysis and cropping information shows the levels of available nutrients and the amounts of extra nitrogen required.
Action needed to minimise the leaching risk proved easier than expected. The 250 pigs – part of a traditional breeds enterprise owned by Mr Kiddy”s family – are straw-bedded in a former beef unit where most of the waste is handled as a solid and a dirty water system handles run-off from the yards.
“NVZs have few restrictions on spreading dirty water, but if we were on a slurry system, the spreading opportunities would be more limited and we would need extra storage.”
An empty concrete-walled silage clamp on a disused dairy unit is ideal for storing straw manure from the pigs and horses, and, apart from checking that the walls were leak-proof, only minor alterations were needed to the drainage system.
The farm has also been spared some of the cost of soil analysis. Trials on the farm with various research organisations mean soil analyses are regularly carried out.
Another bonus is the Amazone with GPS control. Originally used for Shuttleworth”s precision farming research, it is more sophisticated than NVZ regulations demand and allows spread rates to be varied by yield or soil analysis data.
“The cost of being in an NVZ has been small, partly because we can use existing facilities,” says Mr Kiddy. “The main impact is the management time needed for planning and record keeping, but it has been less complicated than I expected.”