Do you have a nutrient management plan?
Many businesses have signed up to nutrient planning as part of their Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) agreement, and the Environment Agency is looking very closely at NMP’s when they are inspecting farms.
Don’t forget
- Before applying any fertiliser or manures, you need a plan in place which takes account of the contribution of nutrients from manure/slurry/digestate.
- Test all fields receiving organic manures, or manufactured fertiliser every 3–5 years
- If you are using your NMP for your Sustainable Farming Incentive scheme, it must be signed off by a FACTS qualified adviser.
If your farm is in a NVZ, you also need:
- Individual field records with actual application rates, date and amounts
- N MAX calculations
- Manure storage calculations
- N loading (stocking rate) calculation (170/250kg limit)
Creating a nutrient management plan
Don’t wait until the day before an inspection to take action. If you would like help with creating an NMP for your farm, your local FACTS-qualified ADAS consultant can visit and take soil samples to check your current soil pH and nutrient levels. We’ll also calculate the nutrient values of applied organic manures.
By taking your soil test results, your cropping programme, organic manures applications, and best practice recommendations (RB209) into account, we can offer you a breakdown by field on how much inorganic fertiliser you will need to apply to maintain profitable production.
Our goal will be to look for any cost savings and ensure you are getting the best value possible from both your organic and inorganic fertilisers.