Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Supporting structure
To practically implement this legislation, a non-profit organisation has been set up
and is funded by the Regional government: 'Nitrawal'. This structure, composed of some
15 doctors, engineers and technicians, is exclusively conceived as an advisory body at the
service of farmers. The information gathered by Nitrawal may therefore never be used by
the administration to control or sanction the farmers. In this way, an atmosphere of
confidence and transparency towards the farmer can be created to guarantee an efficient
action of the organisation. The day-to-day work of Nitrawal is controlled by the same
stakeholders having negotiated the Walloon Programme of Sustainable Nitrogen
Management in Agriculture, i.e. the government, the main farmers' union, the companies
distributing public water and the two main universities involved in agriculture (Catholic
University of Louvain and Agronomic Faculty of Gembloux).
Several other aspects less important are not detailed here, such as the authorised
spreading material, the regular inspections, the fractioning of the fertiliser doses, the
spreading rules on slopes or near rivers … but one of the most original sides of the
programme is the Quality Approach developed with farmers.
The Quality Approach, or how to reconcile water quality and derogations
When a farm produces too much manure than the quantity authorised to be applied,
the Walloon government, under strict conditions, offers the possibility to participate in a
programme helping the farmer to manage in a more sustainable way a bigger amount of
the nitrogen produced on the farm.
Derogation
In this case, the farmer benefits from a derogation raising the yearly applicable
quantity to 130 kg N.ha
-1
.yr
-1
on arable land and 250 kg N.ha
-1
.yr
-1
on grassland, the
maximum dose without derogation being 80 kg N.ha
-1
.yr
-1
or 120 kg N.ha
-1
.yr
-1
(in or
outside vulnerable zones) on arable land and 210 kg N.ha
-1
.yr
-1
on grassland (Table 1).
This derogation is granted on a case by case basis and for a period of four years
during which the performance of the farm in regard to nitrogen management is
periodically assessed. This particular programme started its operations in 2004. So far,
out of the 2450 farms having a soil link rate above 1, close to 400 farmers have been
registered in the Quality Approach programme.
Follow-up
In return to the derogations mentioned above, farmers participating in the Quality
Approach will have to submit to a close and personalised follow-up by the non-profit
organisation Nitrawal. This follow-up consists in a global reflection combined with an
action plan to reduce and possibly avoid nitrate leaching in the soil profile. Hence, the
farmer will have to comply with strict obligations:
1.
Provide all data relevant to nitrogen flows, at farm and at field level;
2.
Apply a series of good agricultural practices in order to limit the nitrate leaching below
the root zone. Amongst other measures, let us mention:
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