Cautious welcome for government pledge to review NVZ rules

Farm groups have cautiously welcomed a commitment from the Welsh government to consider looking at alternatives to closed periods for spreading in the planned four-year review of its controversial water regulations.

During an emergency wet weather summit held last week by the new cabinet secretary for climate change and rural affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, it is understood almost three-quarters of attendees – including those from ancillary industries – warned the rules were one of the sector’s biggest rain-related problems.

See also: Summit to tackle impact of wet weather on Welsh agriculture

According to Farmers Union of Wales (FUW) president Ian Rickman, the weather has prevented contractors from being able to extend slurry storage on many farms so they can comply with the regulations next year.

“They’re getting really behind because the weather’s been so bad,” he said.

At the summit, it was suggested to Mr Irranca-Davies that a weather app developed at the Agricultural Research Centre in Gelli Aur, which uses data on rainfall, temperature, wind speed and soil moisture to determine the best conditions to spread, would be more effective at preventing pollution than closed periods.

Closed periods are due to be introduced as part of the final tranche of the regulations in August this year.

The Welsh government has since confirmed to Farmers Weekly that it is considering whether to look at alternatives such as the app during the review.

NFU Cymru president Aled Jones said: “I’m pleased that Huw Irranca-Davies has made that commitment. He’s demonstrated an empathy with the industry about the ongoing troubles we’ve had over the past eight months.

“But I’m not getting overexcited, because the reality is things could get even worse. There’s the potential that they could add an extra layer of complexity with phosphates, potash and ammonia. That is the danger.”

Mr Jones added that he had taken a management decision to put a light dressing on most of his fields during a narrow window in early January, when northerly winds had dried out the land sufficiently.

With slurry quickly building in his stores, he explained he would have had “huge problems” if he had not – but pointed out he would have broken the regulations if the closed periods had already been in place.

“There are plenty of other farmers in a similar situation,” he said.

“And the availability of contractors is a problem too. There’s simply not the machinery around to be able to go to every particular farm at any time they require, and that will cause a number of issues.”

The NFU Cymru president has also been fielding calls from a tenant farmer who has been waiting 12 months to get planning permission to extend their slurry store, and has finally had it granted, only for their landlord to refuse to contribute to the costs.

“He was at the point of saying ‘I’ve had enough, I can’t carry on’. There are several people across Wales in a similar situation now and I shared it with the cabinet secretary so that he did understand the gravity of what these people were having to face.”

A Welsh government spokesperson said the four-year review was being planned and would cover all aspects of the regulations.