Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 1. Vulnerable zones in Walloon region
This soil link rate is calculated every year for each of the 18,000 farms of the Walloon
region by the Administration in charge of the environment. Its calculation needs an
impressive amount of accurate data, i.e. yearly, the number of animals in each category
for each farm, the accurate acreage of each field and the type of speculation allocated to
each field. The several databases needed are built up and maintained by the
Administration of Agriculture on the basis of the compulsory declarations of farmers for
the veterinary inspection and for the Common Agricultural Policy. The nitrogen
production per animal is calculated on basis of standards for each animal category.
However, in case of disagreement, the farmer has always the right to ask for a more
accurate value estimated with a nitrogen excretion balance and standard losses for manure
and slurry or with weighing and analysing effluents produced.
For a particular farm, the soil link rate must never exceed 1. If so, it indicates that
animal production on the farm is too intensive as compared to the acreage of land that
supports it. In other words, there is a danger of water table pollution (if all of the manure
produced by animals is spread on the farm). In this case, several options are offered to the
farmer:
reducing his/her herd;
increasing the surface (or the balance between fields and grasslands);
transferring the exceeding manure to a farm where the 'soil link rate' is inferior to 1,
via a special 'manure transfer agreement' authorised by the Administration. To this
end, a database linking potential manure 'givers' and 'receivers' is maintained by the
administration.
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