The Water Resources (Control of Agricultural Pollution) (Wales) Regulations 2021

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 1:38 pm on 10 March 2021.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 1:38, 10 March 2021

Thank you. As I say, in addition to Farming Connect services, we've got a dedicated helpline now operated by ADAS, and significant capital funding. So, this is all done and there to support farmers. We will be issuing guidance documents shortly, and that will take farmers step by step through the requirements of the regulations. And I think, once people have access to that guidance, hopefully that will reassure them and certainly allay many of the concerns that you referred to. 

There will be simple templates that can be used for nutrient management planning. I think the difference between existing slurry storage requirements and the new requirements, for most people, will be minimal. So, there are a number of actions you can take to reduce the rainfall that goes into the stores. That again may help address storage shortfalls. And many of these schemes have already been supported by Welsh Government over the past couple of years, through grant schemes, such as the sustainable production, and obviously our farm business grant schemes too. 

The closed periods do not apply to manure with low readily available nitrogen, and that includes farmyard manure, which, again, is much more common in smaller farms, such as the one you referred to, and the regulations also allow farmyard manure to be stored in field heaps. 

I've mentioned in the couple of debates that we've had in the Chamber that there will, obviously, be a transitional period and financial support will increase there. As a result of introducing these new regulations with those transitional periods, I'll be able to support farmers to achieve compliance with the new standards, whereas previously I could only support investment above to the regulatory requirement, and the ability to do that will go on until July 2025. There is a review of the regulations in four years. It was really important, I thought, we had that in. But, obviously, as we go through the next four years up until 2025, the monitoring will be undertaken.