Commission Decision of 22 December 2006 granting a derogation requested by Germany pursuant to Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources (notified under document number C(2006) 7075) (Only the German version is authentic) (2006/1013/EC)

Article 5 U.K. Application of manure and other fertilisers

1. The amount of livestock manure applied each year on fields under intensive grassland, including by the animals themselves, in cattle farms shall not exceed the amount of manure containing 230 kg of nitrogen per hectare, subject to the conditions laid down in paragraphs 2 to 9.

2. The total nitrogen inputs shall comply with the nutrient demand of the considered crop and take into account the supply from the soil.

3. A fertilisation plan shall be kept for each farm describing the crop rotation of the farmland, the planned application of manure and nitrogen and phosphate fertilisers. It shall be available in the farm each calendar year by 1 February at the latest.

The fertilisation plan shall include the following:

(a) the number of livestock, a description of the housing and storage system, including the volume of manure storage available;

(b) a calculation of manure nitrogen (less losses in housing and storage) and phosphorus produced in the farm;

(c) the crop rotation and acreage for intensive grassland and for each crop, including a sketch map indicating location of individual fields;

(d) the foreseeable nitrogen and phosphorus crop requirements;

(e) the amount and the type of manure delivered outside the farm or to the farm;

(f) contribution from soil organic matter net mineralisation, quantification of the amount of nitrogen present in the soil at the beginning of the growing season and contribution from crop residues and leguminous crops;

(g) nitrogen and phosphorus application from manure over each field (parcels of the farm homogeneous regarding cropping and soil type);

(h) application of nitrogen and phosphorus with chemical and other fertilisers over each field.

Plans shall be revised no later than seven days following any changes in agricultural practices to ensure consistency between plans and actual agricultural practices.

4. Fertilisation accounts shall be prepared by each farm. They shall be submitted to the competent authority for each calendar year.

5. Each farm benefiting from an individual derogation shall accept that the application referred to in paragraph 1 of article 4, the fertilisation plan and the fertilisation accounts can be subject to control.

6. Nitrogen and phosphorous analysis in soil shall be performed for each farm which benefits from an individual derogation at least once every four years for each homogeneous area of the farm, with regard to crop rotation and soil characteristics. At least one analysis every 5 hectares of farmland shall be required.

7. The farm phosphate surplus during the previous year, calculated according to the procedure established in Sections 5 and 6 of the Fertiliser Ordinance of 10 January 2006, shall not exceed the 20 kg per hectare.

8. Manure shall not be spread in the autumn before grass cultivation.

9. Low emission application techniques shall be used in manure spreading.