Digestate and the Farming Rules for Water – Where Next?
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Regulation around the spreading of organic waste around farmland has made the news again recently. With the announcement from the EA recently around the tightening of the spreading or organic waste from March 2022, there’s much discussion as to what this means for land managers and the farming community.
In line with the Water Framework Directive 2018, there are strict regulations around how much crop nutrients (digestate) AD plants and farmers can apply to growing crops and surrounding land they maintain during the Spring and Autumn.
The directive is very clear in that no more nutrients than are needed to support the crop growth are applied. This is to protect the surrounding water courses, as any excessive applications of digestate can potentially lead to increased levels of nitrate and phosphate leaching into the local water sources.
Working with an accredited supplier
Here at BioteCH4 we take quality seriously, our team work very closely with agronomists and a range of trusted spreading contractors to ensure that our Biofertiliser is only ever applied to crop need – as outlined in the Water Framework Directive.
All our plants are part of the Biofertiliser Certification Scheme (BCS) and produce only PAS110 digestate. This scheme sets out standards for the feedstock, production, and quality assurances of the final product; meaning that our digestate is consistent and is a product marketed as ‘Biofertiliser’.
Following the most recent news around the regulations due to come into force next year, farmers and land managers should ensure that as part of their Nutrient Management Plan they’re considering the potential implications of what they choose to spread on their land and how it is spread.
What we do
We use waste that’s collected from homes, businesses and local authorities across the UK and through the process of anaerobic digestion, turn it into a rich natural Biofertiliser which can be used as a replacement or to complement the chemical fertilisers used on farmland.
In 2020 we generated nearly 250,000 tonnes of digestate which is enough to spread on 15,500 acres of land or could cover the pitch at Wembley over 6,500 times.
By using our nutrient-rich biofertiliser, rather than artificial fertiliser on the land, one farmer we work with has been able to replace 1,700 tonnes of artificial fertilisers. By removal the synthetic nitrogen alone it has the net positive effect of stopping 3,400,000kg of CO2e from entering the atmosphere.
If you’d like to talk to us about how Biofertiliser can fit into your nutrient management plan then you can get in touch with our Digestate Manager, Isaac Carswell or you can contact him on 07999 112279.
