Guidance

Spreading organic manure on agricultural land: RPS 252

Updated 15 October 2021

This guidance was withdrawn on 29 March 2022

This regulatory position statement expired on 1 March 2022 and is no longer current.

Check the current rules for farmers and land managers.

Applies to England

This regulatory position statement (RPS) applies to land managers. A land manager is anyone who has custody of, or the responsibility for, controlling agricultural land.

Regulation 4(1)(a) Reduction and Prevention of Agricultural Diffuse Pollution (England) Regulations 2018, requires that when you apply organic manure to agricultural land, the application must be planned so that it does not either:

• exceed the needs of the soil or crop on that land
• give rise to a significant risk of agricultural diffuse pollution

This RPS does not alter your legal obligations under the relevant legislation. However, if you follow the conditions in this RPS the Environment Agency will not normally take enforcement action where you have a plan to apply organic manure to agricultural land that may exceed the needs of the soil or crop on that land. The plan must not cause a risk of pollution.

When this RPS applies

You must contact the Environment Agency:

• to tell us you are using this RPS – provide the information set out in the contact section
• if you cannot comply with this RPS and risk breaching the rules for farmers and land managers to prevent water pollution (known as the ‘farming rules for water’)

Where this RPS refers to ‘organic manure’ it means the same as defined in the farming rules for water:

“Organic manures are made from one or more animal, plant or human sources.”

Examples of where you cannot comply with Regulation 4(1)(a) include:

• unavoidable production of solid livestock manure or slurry and no available storage, followed by spreading on cropped land with an application that exceeds the needs of the soil and crop
• no available storage for treated sludge from sewage plants treating domestic or urban waste waters (biosolids), supplied within a contract with the sludge producer, followed by unavoidable spreading on cropped land with an application that exceeds the needs of the soil and crop

To use this RPS you must still be able to show that your planned applications to land do not exceed the crop requirements for the duration of your current planned crop cycle.

It does not apply to circumstances that you can avoid or plan for. For example, spreading organic manure to supply nutrients to land which will not be used for growing a commercial crop in the same season.

This RPS does not apply to any other activity, even if it is under the same legislation. You may still need other permits or permissions for activities you carry out.

Conditions you must comply with

You must comply with the requirements of:

• the contingency plan
• how you must spread the organic matter

Contingency plan

You must avoid causing risk of pollution. Your contingency plan must show that using this RPS is your only option. It must include field inspections to check if organic manure is getting into surface water or groundwater.

You must show that options 1 to 4 in the following hierarchy are not feasible before you follow option 5.

1. Store the organic manure at the place of production.
2. Store the organic manure at the place of use.
3. Send the organic manure to an off-site anaerobic digestion plant or other effluent treatment plant, including at a sewage treatment works.
4. Store the organic manure off-site.
5. Spread the organic manure on land with a low risk of leaching and run-off.

For more information on the 5 steps for dealing with waste see Guidance on applying the waste hierarchy.

You must make sure that all your staff and contractors are aware of your contingency plan.

Work with neighbouring farms to create your contingency plan, if possible.

How you must spread organic manure

You must only spread organic manure:

• on land with a low risk of leaching and run-off
• at an application rate that allows no more than 5kg/ha of nitrate-nitrogen to be leached^{[footnote 1]}
• when the weather and ground conditions allow, as required by the farming rules for water

Land with a low risk of leaching and runoff:

• is not a sandy soil or a shallow soil, within the meaning of the Nitrate Pollution Prevention Regulations 2015
• is not left bare over winter
• is land with an average slope of less than 8 degrees, and the land’s drainage is not impeded (this means the soil is not compacted nor has a capped soil surface - the soil must be permeable and have a good structure)
• is not a soil at field capacity above a land drainage system (other than sealed impermeable pipe) or shallow groundwater
• has not been pipe-drained, mole-drained or sub-soiled in the last 12 months
• must not be within a designated groundwater source protection zone 1
• must be at least 10 metres from surface water or a conduit leading to surface water
• must be at least 50 metres from springs, wells and boreholes

You must carry out regular checks before, during and after spreading to make sure there is no pollution taking place.

Enforcement

A RPS means that the Environment Agency will not normally take enforcement action against you if:

• your activity meets the description set out in this RPS
• you comply with the conditions set out in this RPS
• your activity does not, and is not likely to, cause environmental pollution or harm to human health

If you operate under this RPS but think you may no longer be able to comply with its conditions, you must tell the Environment Agency immediately.

The Environment Agency will monitor how land managers use and comply with this RPS through its proportionate, risk-based inspection and monitoring activity.

When to check back

We will withdraw this RPS on 1 March 2022 unless we extend it.

After this date you must comply with regulatory requirements for spreading organic manure to land.

Contact the Environment Agency

To tell us you are using this RPS put ‘RPS 252’ in the subject line of your email and provide the following information:

• name of the person and company using this RPS, including their email address and phone number
• address where you will use the material relating to this RPS
• type of material that will be spread

Send your email to enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk

Read the privacy notice to find out how we use your personal information.

For general enquiries email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk

1. You can calculate nitrogen use, efficiency and nitrogen losses, including nitrate-nitrogen using MANNER-NPK. You can download with instructions from Planet nutrient management ↩