Policy paper

Government response to the NMEG report: Improving policy and practice for agricultural nutrient use and management

Published 23 May 2024

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

We welcome the report of the Nutrient Management Expert Group (NMEG). This group was commissioned by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to help collate evidence and give advice to government on agricultural nutrient management. Nutrient management is a challenging policy issue with many complex factors that interact across the agri-environment-food system and where no single measure can solve the problem. 

We thank NMEG members for their time and effort in preparing this report and their dedication to tackling nutrient pollution.  

The recommendations will be of help to government as it looks to update current policies and develop new polices on nutrient management. The NMEG report is not a statement of government policy and the group was arms-length from government.  

The problem 

Fertilisers, either man-made or organic, provide essential nutrients to crops, but avoiding nutrient loss to the environment is highly challenging. Natural processes such as soil erosion, leaching and run-off after rainfall carry nutrients and sediment into water bodies polluting our aquatic environment. Nitrogen is lost to air as ammonia, which is then deposited, degrading terrestrial habitats.  

Poor farming practices can seriously increase pollution, such as when nutrients are applied in excess of crop need, at the wrong time or when farmers leave soil vulnerable to erosion. Agriculture accounts for around 61% of nitrate losses to waters and groundwater, 28% of phosphate pollution and 87% of ammonia emissions. 

This wastage of applied nutrients represents lost productivity and profitability for farmers and other businesses in the nutrient supply chain – especially when inorganic fertiliser prices are volatile. Better use of societal organic waste materials (from humans, livestock and the food chain) presents a real opportunity for a circular economy.  However, there are significant barriers to managing them due to inherent nutrient losses during storage, transportation and spreading, as well as contaminants. More efficient and effective re-use of these materials will also be essential for meeting net zero and maintaining food security. 

The approach we are taking 

Our approach to tackling nutrient pollution meets Environment Act and Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) targets for water and air, as well as the EIP soil commitment. It comprises a balance of advice, incentives, innovation and regulation. 

Regulation  

Fair, clear, effective regulation plays a vital role in supporting our environmental objectives. There are a number of regulations setting out what farmers should do to manage nutrients on their farm, including rules on storage and application of organic manures (specifically not applying over crop and soil need) and measures to avoid run-off. A high level of regulatory compliance is critical for meeting our targets and avoiding unnecessary nutrient loss into the environment. We must continue to work with farmers to achieve this. 

We have overhauled our environmental regulatory approach since 2021. We have made the system more proportionate, effective and clear. Most notably we have: 

1. Improved cross compliance enforcement, reducing penalties for minor errors, and increasing the use of advisory and warning letters that help farmers understand what changes to make. This has led to an approximate 85% reduction in formal complaints, from 57 in 2018 to 9 in 2021. 

2. Introduced an advice-led approach from the Environment Agency as regulator to support farmers back to compliance (expanding from around 300 visits in 2020 to over 4,000 visits in 2022 to 2023), with proportionate actions prescribed by officers. This has resulted in over 13,600 improvement notices being issued since April 2021 (over 6,900 of which have been actioned) and, where necessary stop notices or court actions to protect from the worst environmental harm. 

3. Invested £1.3 million funding per year in a “test and learn” approach in the Environment Agency including innovative remote targeting and intervention approaches and working with industry, such as Avara Foods in the Wye Valley. 

It is important that regulations are fit for purpose in delivering our environmental and farming targets. We acknowledge there are gaps in certain rules. That is why we committed to consult on proposals to reduce ammonia emissions from farming in the EIP and committed to work with farmers to review and improve existing farming laws to make them clear, simple, and effective in the 2023 Plan for Water. 

Advice and tools to support farmers  

We have expanded the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) advice programme and extended it to the whole country. This was widely welcomed, and we receive consistent positive feedback on the scheme. CSF has been shown to reduce the occurrence of serious water pollution incidents by 17% and increase environmental benefits on farms within agri-environment scheme by a factor of 4 to 8 times, enhancing the delivery of incentives and grants.  

We are also developing improved tools to support farmers with their nutrient management planning, working alongside the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) in their strategic review of the Nutrient Management Guide (RB209) and investing a new free to use nutrient management planning tool. 

Grants  

We are making considerable investments to help improve management of manures and organic nutrients. In August, we announced that we are making over £200 million available over the agricultural transition period to help farmers invest in improved slurry management infrastructure and equipment. The Slurry Infrastructure grant will offer £181 million in funding to help farmers invest in enlarged and covered slurry stores.  We will continue offering grants for best available slurry management equipment such as nutrient testing and precision spreading equipment, as part of the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund, with £21 million allocated over the next 2 years. Countryside Stewardship capital grants are also available for items to reduce nutrient run-off and ammonia emissions and support natural flood management. 

Environmental Land Management (ELM) incentives  

Through the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), Countryside Stewardship and Landscape Recovery, the following incentives are currently available or are in the pipeline to support farmers to go beyond the regulatory minimums: 

Soil actions: SFI already pays for actions to support the sustainable management of soils including completing a soil assessment, producing a soil management plan and testing soil organic matter, multi-species winter cover, and herbal leys. In addition, in 2024 SFI will pay for actions to adopt no-till techniques and establish a spring to summer and summer to autumn cover crop in between harvestable crops. These actions will help improve and maintain soil structure and reduce the risk of nutrient leaching, soil erosion and runoff.   

Nutrient management: Actions introduced to SFI in 2023 include paying for assessment of nutrient management plans and producing a review, and greater growing of legumes, which fix nitrogen from the air, reducing the need for inorganic fertilisers for future crops. These actions will improve nutrient management and planning, help reduce production costs, maximise efficient use of nutrients, and deliver a range of environmental benefits including improving water and air quality, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions towards our net zero targets. 

Precision Farming: in 2024 SFI will pay for a Precision Farming action to adopt Variable Rate Application (VRA) of manufactured fertilisers (liquid or solid), manures, biosolids, slurry and digestate. This action will more accurately match nutrient application to crop need taking account of variability within fields, reducing over-application of N, P and K.   

Countryside Stewardship: The Countryside Stewardship scheme contains a range of actions to address water, air quality and natural flood management. These help reduce the risk of soil erosion and nutrient pollution and create, restore or manage important habitats including wetlands to support natural flood management. We have seen good take up of capital and revenue items linked to preventing nutrient run-off and diffuse water pollution, such as concrete yard renewal, roofing, and buffer strips on cultivated land. Further actions to support natural flood management, river restoration and improved water quality will be introduced into the scheme from this year. 

Landscape Recovery: Projects under Landscape Recovery have huge potential to reduce nutrient pollution. Collectively, the 22 projects funded in Round 1 aim to restore nearly 700km of rivers and 11 are specifically focused on river restoration. For example, the Upper Axe project is restoring over 14 miles of the River Axe using regenerative farming techniques and extensive grazing to reduce the diffuse pollution entering the river. In Round 2 we are taking forward 34 projects with a focus on net zero, protected sites and wildlife-rich habitats. These projects are currently going through enrolment and will be working up their project plans in the coming months.  

Innovation  

Smarter use of livestock manures and sewage sludge is essential to tackle the problem. There is a role for technology and innovation, for example, to increase the value of manures and slurries through processing into products that are easier to handle, manage and transport. Currently this type of activity is limited, and the nutrients in manures are often wasted despite their potential to provide the UK with a much-needed domestic supply of phosphorus and other nutrients. We are proposing changes to fertiliser product regulations to ensure that rules help rather than hinder innovation in the fertiliser sector. We are also planning a £25 million Farming Innovation Programme research and development call to give a much-needed boost to innovation in this emerging sector. 

International collaboration  

The UK announced it will join the US-led Global Fertiliser Challenge, investing £3 million to develop, test and scale up new and alternative fertilisers that can enhance soil health, agricultural productivity, and the sustainability of agriculture globally.  

We are continually looking at improving our policy response to tackle pollution from nutrient management and the wider impacts that nutrients can have on the environment and society.