Arable farmers have been able to participate in the new manure rules for the first time this year: the equivalent measures. Until September 15, they can use extra (artificial) fertilizer. A more extensive scheme is now being prepared. If it is up to LTO Nederland, this Regulation will take effect in 2018.
The equivalent arable farming measures are measures that give arable farmers more room for the use of (artificial) fertilizer. The scheme first came into effect in April 2017. A total of 136 companies registered at the time. The extra space that the participating arable farmers have is mainly used in late summer to provide the green manure farmers with some extra fertilizer. This is allowed until September 15.
Little used
To make the manure rules attractive to more farmers, improvements are being made. Jaap van Wenum, chairman of Arable Farming of LTO Nederland: "It is a system with many snags. It can be useful if it suits your company. However, this differs per company. By applying the measures, there is less space left. for animal manure. This reduces the supply of organic matter and that is precisely so important for healthy soil life."
Disappointing returns
Another tricky point is that revenues in 2016 were disappointing. And that year is the reference year for crop yield. Yields were particularly disappointing in grains and potatoes. The year 2016 was an extremely wet year and there was also a lot of water damage that year. Farmers were therefore unable to achieve the yield they had to meet. "That is the main reason that little use has been made of the scheme. The extra heavy administrative burden also plays a role in this," says Van Wenum.
Improvement
From 2018 onwards, a number of improvements should be made to the measure so that it can be used more widely. In September there will be another consultation in the House of Representatives in connection with the Nitrate Directive action plan from 2018. “A number of points for improvement are presented,” says Van Wenum.
He believes that arable farmers should be able to choose from several reference years and be able to eliminate a disaster year. This should prevent an extremely wet year like 2016 from excluding farmers from higher usage standards for years. Van Wenum also wants higher generic standards that are not dependent on crop yields.
A third point is also extra phosphate space for the use of soil improvers. "This provides broader options for how to use the space, which are also better for maintaining the organic matter content in the soil," says Jaap van Wenum.
"We would like to maintain the so-called fries, beet and grain regulations." This has no restrictive measures regarding animal manure use. A solution must be found for the southeastern sandy soils, because they are not included here. The 20% discount on nitrogen use standards must be reversed there. "We would like to do something extra for this, such as mandatory catch crops and precision fertilization," says Van Wenum.
The equivalent measures
With participation in the equivalent measures, there are 3 options: extra nitrogen space depending on crop yield, extra space when growing maize with row fertilization and a higher phosphate use standard depending on the phosphate status of the soil.
Crop yield
The existing nitrogen differentiation has been expanded this year and now applies to several crops and all soil types. Some conditions apply:
How is the yield determined? For 2017, the yield for the year 2016 is decisive. For 2018, the proceeds of the past 2 years apply.
Soil phosphate status
If the phosphate status is low and the phosphate status is neutral, an additional phosphate standard may be applied if the yield is above average. This applies to the crops sugar beet, seed and consumption potatoes, seed onions and maize. When the phosphate status is neutral, this also applies to winter wheat and spring barley. In the case of a low phosphate status, an extra standard of 5 kilos per hectare applies and in the case of a neutral phosphate status, an extra space, varying from 5 to 15 kilos. Both depend on the crop yield. In addition to fertilizer, this space may also be filled with compost, champost, foam earth or solid grazing animal manure.
Row fertilization on corn land
When growing maize, with only row fertilization, additional fertilizer space is possible. This only applies to maize on sandy and loess soils. The manure must then be brought very close (no later than 12 centimeters) to the seed. When administering in 2 passes, the use of GPS is mandatory. Here too, the space may only be filled with fertilizer. In Brabant and Limburg an additional standard of 25 kilos per hectare applies and on other sandy soils 10 kilos per hectare.