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Record Keeping For Nitrates And Phosphorus Regulations - What is required?

Alan Galbraith, Countryside Management Branch, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD)

The Nitrates and Phosphorus Regulations became operational on 1 January 2007. The Regulations introduced a number of measures to improve the use of these nutrients on farms and reduce their potential for leaching into Northern Ireland’s waterways. The measures apply to all farmers in Northern Ireland.
One key measure in the Regulations is the requirement for farmers to provide records. Environment and Heritage Service (EHS), as the authority responsible for inspection under the Regulations, will use the records as part of their compliance assessment. Records must be kept on an annual basis for the period 1 January to 31 December and must be ready for any possible inspection by the 30 June of the following year. For example, records relating to the year 2007 must be ready by 30 June 2008 and retained for a period of five years.

Information Required

The records required for a typical farm include:
  • the controller of the land for the calendar year in question;
  • the total agricultural area, field size and location;
  • the livestock numbers, type and time kept;
  • the details of imports and/or exports of livestock and other organic manures;
  • the capacity of livestock manure storage;
  • the quantity of chemical fertiliser and organic manures applied including tonnage and N and P content;
  • if any crops are grown the management of previous crop;
  • if chemical Phosphorus fertiliser has been sown, evidence is needed of a Phosphorus requirement through a soil analysis and a record of where the Phosphorus was applied; and
  • evidence of the right to graze common land.
Many of these records already exist on farms, for example, IACS form; APHIS or herd records; dated fertiliser receipts showing tonnage; the Nitrogen and Phosphorus content and soil analysis if Phosphorus was sown.
Additional records may have to be kept depending on the farm’s circumstances. For example, if availing of the storage capacity allowances, you would require evidence such as the number of any animals out-wintered and land area used; the number and length of time animals were bedded; the amount of slurry separated; capacity of tanks rented and amount of any slurry exported to be processed.

Guidance and assistance

Full guidance on the Nitrates and Phosphorus Regulations will be posted out to farmers in early 2007 and this will cover in detail all the record keeping requirements.