Over the course of the past few weeks NFU Cymru has been inundated with calls from worried and concerned farmers on the implications of the introduction of closed periods for the spreading of slurry and organic manures with high readily available nitrogen.

The challenging weather conditions through late summer and into early autumn severely restricted the number of days when it was possible to spread slurry, this means many farmers have now entered the closed period with slurry stores far fuller than they would have hoped, the torrential rain last week has only worsened the situation. 

In the short term there is a clear need for the regulations to include a derogation for spreading during the closed periods in exceptional circumstances. A derogation that can be applied for without the fear of enforcement activity being undertaken. But we need a longer-term sustainable solution that allows farming businesses to be able to operate based on the weather and ground conditions on their farm and not an arbitrary date. A farming by calendar approach as prescribed by the regulations works for no one.

This comes as Welsh Government’s four-yearly review of these regulations gets underway and as part of this review, NFU Cymru has been asking members for their feedback on their own experiences of the Control of Agricultural Pollution Regulations and associated record keeping, in the form of a survey. The survey, which is an initiative of the union’s Water Quality Review Group, seeks farmer perspectives of the regulations, whether that be record keeping, the slurry and silage storage requirements, the nitrogen limits or the closed periods, as well as their experiences of inspections and dealing with the various regulatory and planning authorities. 

Earlier this month, we met with Dr Susannah Bolton, who is leading the four-yearly review of the regulations. It was a positive and constructive meeting, where we were able to highlighta number ofthe issues and concerns that our members are facing now that the regulations have been fully implemented. The survey will play a vital role in helping us to build the evidence base and hear on the ground experiences of the regulations that farmers are trying to grapple with. Our intention is to present the findings of the survey to Dr Bolton later this year.

For NFU Cymru, the Control of Agricultural Pollution Regulations is a priority issue, and we are committed to finding practical solutions whilst ensuring that water quality is protected. The survey findings will make an invaluable contribution to our work, and if you haven’t already completed it, whatever sector you farm in, I urge you to head to the NFU Cymru website and complete the form as soon as possible.