The manure will be in the plots 10 days before its application but must be buried within 24 hours afterwards.
The Ministry of Agriculture is making the current regulations on agricultural fertilization more flexible with the aim of making its application more viable and realistic. The Royal Decree, approved this Tuesday in the Council of Ministers at the proposal of the Ministry of Agriculture and Published this Wednesday in the BOEincorporates new regulations and simplifies some measures of the Royal Decree on sustainable nutrition of agricultural soils approved at the end of 2022.
Some of the changes are the result of the 43 measures to support the agricultural sector approved by the Government to improve the situation of farmers and ranchers, agreed with the organisations Unión de Pequeños Agricultores y Ganaderos (UPA) and Unión de Uniones de Agricultores y Ganaderos after the protests and tractor marches carried out last spring.
Undefined incentives for the implementation of the Digital Notebook
In line with other announced regulatory changes, the articles relating to the operating log and the fertiliser plan are modified. Specifically, incentives for the use of the digital log are included, since it will not be mandatory but voluntary, although these incentives are not detailed, and the information of the fertiliser plan that must be included in the operating log is defined, one of whose key points is the determination of the doses.
The law includes some of the Government’s commitments in response to the demands of farmers and ranchers
Thus, the fertilization plan, when its application is mandatory (farms of more than 10 hectares or greenhouse crops) must include the following data at the beginning of the agricultural campaign: expected yield, previous crop, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium requirements and the date of preparation of the plan.
The plan will include the recommended dose of the different nutrients, the time at which they are to be added, as well as the type of fertilizer or material, the method of application and the distribution machinery.
The figure of the fertilisation advisor may be replaced by a computer programme for fertiliser recommendations recognised by the autonomous community, provided that the owner of the farm keeps a Digital Notebook.
Flexibility in the application of slurry and manure
After more than a year of application, the reform of the royal decree on sustainable nutrition of agricultural soils seeks to facilitate its application and the implementation of certain technical aspects, as well as “to reinforce coherence with other regulations, such as the Law on Waste and Contaminated Soils for a Circular Economy or sectoral autonomous provisions,” justifies the Ministry.
One of the main changes is that the obligations related to the use of manure, slurry and other organic fertilizers are made more flexible, since, among other things, more time is given for storage in the field and its subsequent application, by incorporating it into the soil and burying it.
In this sense, the period during which manure stacking is permitted is extended from 5 to 10 days, which can reach 20 days in the case of composted or digested material. Those farms whose access by machinery is made impossible by rain will be exempt from this obligation until this circumstance ceases.
Manure may be piled up for 10 days on farms before application and the slurry must be buried the following day on cropland unless injectors or hanging tubes are used.
The period for burying slurry and other organic materials is also extended, from 12 to 24 hours. Burying must be done using a mouldboard plough, chisel, cultivator or equipment that ensures equivalent work, except in the case of using localized application systems (injectors or hanging tubes), in meadows or crops that have already emerged and when direct sowing or conservation agriculture is carried out.
The autonomous communities, taking into account the agro-climatic characteristics of their territories and the type of material applied, may establish a maximum time period of less than 24 hours to carry out this burial.
They will also be able to authorise alternative systems to injectors and hanging tubes, such as the inverted plate, a measure that the Xunta de Galicia has announced, allowing the traditional conventional plate and fan systems to be used on farms with average slopes of more than 10% or on farms where half of the agricultural surface has a slope of more than 10%.
Conditions for the use of urea
In addition to incorporating clearer wording of the provisions relating to the reduction of ammonia emissions, other technologies are taken into account that can reduce the risk of leaching (extraction of a substance from a solid material).
When urea or urea nitrogen solutions are used, at least one of the methods indicated in the Royal Decree for mitigating emissions must be used (fractioning of inputs, incorporation into the soil within 4 hours, subsequent irrigation application, coating with slow-release polymers, use of urease inhibitors) or any other method for which similar efficiency has been demonstrated in reducing ammonia emissions. The use of urea as a fertilizer requires keeping a digital operating notebook, even if it is not required by the other provisions of this Royal Decree.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition has priority over the Ministry of Agriculture when establishing the ammonia reduction coefficients in each campaign
If, over the course of a year, it is found that the nitrogen supplied by urea and urea nitrogen solutions exceeds 30% of the total nitrogen sold nationwide, in the following fertilisation campaign, those farms that apply more than 20% of their nitrogen needs by means of urea or urea nitrogen solutions must choose those methods that guarantee a reduction in emissions equal to or greater than 30% compared to the reference technique.
Sludge and recoverable waste
New wastes are also added to the list of those that are admitted, such as oil mill effluents or wine lees, modifying the requirements for their application, in line with the market and the criteria of safety and agronomic efficacy.
In any case, the application of other organic or organo-mineral materials, including waste, using plate, fan and cannon systems is prohibited, provided that the humidity of these materials is equal to or greater than 90% and their ammonia nitrogen content is greater than 0.1% on fresh material.
Sewage sludge may be applied to permanent meadows with prior authorization from the autonomous community
Organic materials from waste and used as fertilizers must have an organic matter content greater than 25% of the dry matter content, comply with the requirements of impurities and stability, declare the content in Salmonella y Escherichia coli and include an analysis of the nutrients they provide, in particular nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, as well as pH and electrical conductivity. The heavy metal values of the waste applied to the soil must be recorded in the farm logbook and a limit for chromium is added.
When used as amendments, these residues will only be applied to land without planted crops and, when applied to woody plantations or permanent herbaceous crops, they will be applied directly to the soil and before the end of the winter rest period. In the case of permanent grasslands, they may be applied with prior authorization from the autonomous community.
The heavy metal values of the waste applied to the soil must be recorded in the operating notebook.
If they are applied on land with crops planted, they must not come into contact with the part of the crop intended for consumption. In autonomous communities that do not have applicable regulations prior to the regulation contemplated in this new Royal Decree, liquid recoverable waste, except sludge, used to provide nutrients to crops, must be applied leaving at least two months between application and harvest or collection.
However, this period may be reduced to 21 days when the crop is not intended for human or animal consumption or when the method of cultivation or the system of application of the material guarantees that the residues do not come into contact with the edible parts of the crop.
Objective: greater efficiency to reduce fertilization costs
“This new regulation responds to the Government’s commitment to advance the rational fertilization of crops, with the strategic objective of increasing or maintaining the productivity of agricultural soils,” says the Ministry. At the same time, it indicates, “it seeks to reduce the environmental impact of the application of fertilizer products and other sources of nutrients or organic matter, in line with the objectives of the European strategy From Farm to Table”.
“Rational soil fertilization is not only important for improving the environmental performance of agriculture, but is also essential for the efficiency and profitability of agriculture, in a context of high fertilizer prices,” argues the department headed by Luis Planas.
