Question

mesure support to protect agriculture to intense commercial farming

Answer 1

low use of fertilizers and use only organic mannuars

Answer 2

. All cropped land over the following winter must, where soil conditions after harvest allow, have either: crop cover, grass cover, stubble cover, ploughed surface or a roughly cultivated surface. Fine seedbeds must only be created very close to sowing. [GAEC measure 1]

2. Protect your soil by following the guidance in this Code regarding preventing damage and erosion.

3. Follow "The 4 Point Plan", which offers guidance on how to:

reduce dirty water around the farm

improve nutrient use

carry out a land risk assessment for slurry and manure

manage your water margins

4. Use buffer strips and other measures to reduce surface run-off from fields.

5. Carefully plan all storage and handling arrangements for livestock slurries and manures, animal feedstuffs, silage effluent, agricultural fuel oil, dirty water, fertilisers, veterinary medicines, chemicals and pesticides at your farm.

6. Maintain a suitable distance from any watercourse including ditches (e.g. 10m) or drinking water supplies (e.g. 50m), especially when handling or applying fertilisers, organic wastes, pesticides or other chemicals.

7. Think about ways to protect and enhance your local environment, and how to minimise the impacts of diffuse agricultural pollution of water, land and air.

8. Account for every input, especially of nutrients, pesticides and other chemicals through careful planning.

9. Ensure that any biobed, reedbed, wetland or infiltration system installed to reduce the risk of diffuse pollution is discussed with SEPA before it is constructed.

10. Obtain specialist advice when considering using wetlands, ponds or infiltration systems to treat contaminated roof or dirty yard run-off at the farm steading.

11. Adopt "good housekeeping" and waste minimisation practices that aim to prevent pollution at source.

12. Minimise the area of farmyard and roads over which animals can excrete and over which equipment transporting slurry is moved. Take steps to control the run-off from these areas.

13. Ensure sprayer operators are fully trained and posses certificates of competence and that sprayers are properly maintained and regularly tested.