Action Programme For Nitrate Vulnerable Zones Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1999

1.—(1) In this Schedule—

• “autumn sown crop” means—

  (a)

  a cover crop sown before 1st October and not removed (whether by mechanical cultivation, herbicide or grazing) before 1st December in the same year, and

  (b)

  a crop, not being a cover crop, sown between 1st August and 1st November in any year;

• “chemical fertiliser” means nitrogen fertiliser which is manufactured by an industrial process;

• “cover crop” means a crop sown primarily for the purpose of taking up nitrogen from the soil and which is not harvested;

• “crop requirement” means the amount of nitrogen fertiliser which it is reasonable to apply to land in any year having regard to the foreseeable nitrogen requirement of the crop growing or to be grown on the land and the nitrogen supply to the crop from the soil and from other sources, including any previous applications of livestock and other organic manures;

• “grassland” means land on which the vegetation consists predominantly of grass species;

• “livestock” means any animal kept for use or profit;

• “livestock manure” means waste products excreted by livestock or a mixture of litter and waste products excreted by livestock, even in processed form;

• “nitrogen compound” means any nitrogen-containing substance other than gaseous molecular nitrogen;

• “nitrogen fertiliser” means any substance containing a nitrogen compound utilised on land to enhance growth of vegetation;

• “organic manure” means—

  (a)

  livestock manure, and

  (b)

  nitrogen fertiliser, not being livestock manure or chemical fertiliser, derived from organic matter, and includes sewage sludge and other organic wastes;

• “sandy” in relation to soil means soil where—

  (a)

  in the layer up to 40 cm deep, there are—

  (i)

  more than 50 per cent by weight of sand sized particles (that is particles more than 0.06 mm and less than 2 mm in diameter),

  (ii)

  less than 18 per cent by weight of clay sized particles (that is particles less than 0.02 mm in diameter), and

  (iii)

  less than 5 per cent by weight of organic carbon, and

  (b)

  in the layer 40 cm deep and up to 80 cm deep, the sum of the percentage, by weight, of silt sized particles (that is particles more than 0.02 mm in diameter and less than 0.06 mm in diameter) and double the percentage, by weight, of clay sized particles is less than or equal to 30% of the total weight of sand, silt and clay sized particles;

• “shallow” in relation to soil means less than 40 cm deep;

• and other expressions used in Council Directive 91/676/EEC concerning the protection of waters against pollution by nitrates from agricultural sources have the same meaning as in that Directive.

(2) For the purposes of this Schedule, material is applied to land where the material is added to the land whether by spreading on the surface of the land, injecting into land, placing below the surface of the land or mixing with the surface layers of the land, and for the purposes of paragraph 9 includes material deposited by livestock.

(3) In relation to a farm only part of which is in a nitrate vulnerable zone, references in this Schedule to a farm shall be taken as references to that part of the farm which is in the nitrate vulnerable zone.