Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:49 pm on 14 December 2016.
Well, the facts, of course, belie that, and the NFU I think are pretty reliable consultees on this particular issues. But there are other solutions to the problem of nitrate pollution, and they’ve been applied in England. ADAS has produced a booklet that is entitled, ‘101 ways to reduce nitrates’. In fact, in Wales, nitrate fertiliser consumption has gone down by 43 per cent between 1990 and 2013, so it’s not as though nothing is happening out in the real world. And, in fact, in the Cleddau area in Pembrokeshire, where there was a creamery that had to reduce its nitrate waste by 8 tonnes, local farmers formed together as a co-operative—25 of them—and they each reduced their own nitrate waste by a tonne. So, they actually reduced the amount of nitrate waste in that area by 25 tonnes altogether. Now, that’s without the kind of sledgehammer approach of the regime that the environment Secretary is currently consulting on. So, I wonder if I can get to—without pre-empting, obviously, the outcome of the consultation—an open-minded commitment for her to look at things in the round and to consider, nonetheless, the possibility of a voluntary regime if the