The Environment Agency regulatory position statement (RPS) to apply organic manure to agricultural land

The Environment Agency announced yesterday (25th August 2021) that it has produced this regulatory position statement (RPS). This applies to land managers. A land manager is anyone who has custody of, or the responsibility for, controlling agricultural land.

Normally, under regulation 4(1)(a) Reduction and Prevention of Agricultural Diffuse Pollution (England) Regulations 2018, 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

If you follow the conditions in this RPS, you can have a plan to apply organic manure to agricultural land that may exceed the needs of the soil or crop on that land, as long as it does not cause pollution.

There is a hierarchy of actions.

1.    If you can follow farming rules for water, rule 1, then you do not need to use this RPS – carry on with your planned activities

2.    If you can follow the conditions in this RPS – tell the Environment Agency you are using the RPS as described in the ‘contact’ section, and carry on with your activities

3.    If you cannot comply with the conditions in this RPS, email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk or call 03708 506 506 (general enquiries). The Environment Agency will assess the risk of your activities. 

For this autumn, they will allow activities that will not cause significant risks (significant risk may result from repeated applications to the same field or spreading close to protected sites, such as Natura 2000 sites). You must not start your activities until the Environment Agency confirms you can do so.

The Environment Agency [enforcement and sanctions policy] sets out how the EA will act proportionately when applying the law. This normally means working with farmers, setting out what they need to do to be compliant, rather than moving straight to sanctions. The Environment Agency will take regulatory action where appropriate, for example where activities result in a significant pollution incident.

Victoria Chomiak