urea spreading date cut off fast approaching

[BigBarl]

As a FACTS registered advisor I would much rather recommend urea goes on in April in cool and damp conditions than rush to apply it before end of March and see it all pee off into the ditches / ground water!? The metric on safe urea spreading should be day time temp and if the soil has adequate moisture - not a calendar date. I don’t deny risk of urea volatilisation should always be taken into account but in the UK this is only a very small period of summer - any advisor or farmer with an ounce of common sense wouldn’t apply urea when risk of volatilisation is high away as they want their investment on their crops , not in the atmosphere!

 

[Nearly]

Big ask, @BigBarl would you dare to put your head above the parapet and make a recommendation or a general statement that we plebs could use if challenged?
2 packets of smarties in it for you.

 

[Surgery]

This is something the NFU ought to have sorted out rather than it come into effect , once again we can’t use it but other countries importing to here can , what a load of shite and really does make you shudder to think you could have thrown it all on and for the weather to wash it away into water courses , well done the twunt who thought this up

 

[DrWazzock]

DEFRA idiotic calendar date farming. They always think they know best. Wrecking our industry.

 

[BigBarl]

Big ask, @BigBarl would you dare to put your head above the parapet and make a recommendation or a general statement that we plebs could use if challenged?
2 packets of smarties in it for you.

It’s a good question - I would argue it’s perfectly safe at the moment into April and I’d be justified in a recommendation. However, the guidance on the RT website states :

• In England, unprotected/uninhibited liquid fertiliser containing urea can be applied between 1 April and last application in autumn only if agronomic justification is provided by FACTS-qualified farm personnel or advice specific for the crop has been provided by a FACTS – Qualified Adviser and been followed (see EC 9.1)
• In England, unprotected/uninhibited solid fertiliser containing urea can only be applied between 15 January and 31 March.

Note it only says ‘liquid’ NOT solid for application after 1st April - so in answer to your question yes for liquid, no for solid. That advice completely goes against what I think is safe and justified, especially in a season like this, but I don’t want to be responsible for losing your access to market assured produce. Plus, if industry completely ignores the close period and an outright ban is introduced, which was the governments preferred option, would be good for no one (apart from manufacturers of urease inhibitors!) so we’re held by the balls on it sadly as far as solid goes.

 

[4course]

Not a problem here now as all applied in the last couple of days, next job on ww/wb will be putting the shortner/stiffner on as rate was a tad high would ideally have gone a fortnight earlier and a fortnight later ,but this paper chase farming is apparently the way forward

 

[holmes65]

Need a new calendar View attachment 1172491

Might need more days than that.

 

[SilliamWhale]

This is something the NFU ought to have sorted out rather than it come into effect , once again we can’t use it but other countries importing to here can , what a load of shite and really does make you shudder to think you could have thrown it all on and for the weather to wash it away into water courses , well done the twunt who thought this up

The NFu created it. The response should not have been "oh well we think its contributing to global warming so we need to compromise and use our pet monopoly country to police it" the answer is "the scientific literature demonstrates that it does not volatilise a lot especially in springtime especially before rain, there are attendent issues with the use of Ammonium nitrate leaching in wet springs, such ban will not only increase costs for farmers, the inhibitors don't appear to last long in the bag and a bad law will lead to bad practices such as shoving on urea before the date regardless of optimum conditions and resentment".

Industry Asks Red Tractor To Help Retain Access To Urea - Red Tractor Assurance

Industry Asks Red Tractor To Help Retain Access To Urea. Read this and our most recent stories on the Red Tractor Assurance website.

redtractorassurance.org.uk

It’s a good question - I would argue it’s perfectly safe at the moment into April and I’d be justified in a recommendation. However, the guidance on the RT website states :

• In England, unprotected/uninhibited liquid fertiliser containing urea can be applied between 1 April and last application in autumn only if agronomic justification is provided by FACTS-qualified farm personnel or advice specific for the crop has been provided by a FACTS – Qualified Adviser and been followed (see EC 9.1)
• In England, unprotected/uninhibited solid fertiliser containing urea can only be applied between 15 January and 31 March.

Note it only says ‘liquid’ NOT solid for application after 1st April - so in answer to your question yes for liquid, no for solid. That advice completely goes against what I think is safe and justified, especially in a season like this, but I don’t want to be responsible for losing your access to market assured produce. Plus, if industry completely ignores the close period and an outright ban is introduced, which was the governments preferred option, would be good for no one (apart from manufacturers of urease inhibitors!) so we’re held by the balls on it sadly as far as solid goes.

Do you really think a ban on urea was the governments preferred option? They would be the first country in the world to do so and they would have done so on a completely unscientific basis. I think the sh!t would have hit the fan v quickly to shut off 50% of the supply of nitrogen to the Uk

 

[Zippy768]

Might need more days than that.

My march has 61 days in it

 

[Punch]

The NFu created it. The response should not have been "oh well we think its contributing to global warming so we need to compromise and use our pet monopoly country to police it" the answer is "the scientific literature demonstrates that it does not volatilise a lot especially in springtime especially before rain, there are attendent issues with the use of Ammonium nitrate leaching in wet springs, such ban will not only increase costs for farmers, the inhibitors don't appear to last long in the bag and a bad law will lead to bad practices such as shoving on urea before the date regardless of optimum conditions and resentment".

Industry Asks Red Tractor To Help Retain Access To Urea - Red Tractor Assurance

Industry Asks Red Tractor To Help Retain Access To Urea. Read this and our most recent stories on the Red Tractor Assurance website.

redtractorassurance.org.uk

Do you really think a ban on urea was the governments preferred option? They would be the first country in the world to do so and they would have done so on a completely unscientific basis. I think the sh!t would have hit the fan v quickly to shut off 50% of the supply of nitrogen to the Uk

Yes the governments preferred options did include no uninhibited Urea applied at all in England!
We would have lost Urea completely without the lobbying from AHDB, NFU & NIABTAG to get the “option 4“ agreed.
EA & DEFRA and NGO’s have completely swallowed the research from NT26 that was done in mid 2000’s. That has now disappeared from internet when searched for , but from memory included applications to bare soil in May under plastic to catch and monitor ammonia losses.

The issue stems from clean air regulations from EU. From the “dodgy“ science Urea causes 8% of ammonia emmisions. Livestock & livestock manures contribute most of the rest. However that is a harder issue to regulate for in the short term to get emissions down. There are now greater regs on spreading and incorporating slurries and poultry manures with the aim of reducing ammonia emissions.
These issues are still under review and never has the phrase ”loose lips sink ships” been more relevant.

I managed to find NT26 and posted executive summary below!

 

[Punch]

 

[Punch]

 

[Clive]

I read in RT newsletter that any non conformances due to late spreading of uninhibited urea will require the farmer to watch a 45 minute film about ammonia release, rather than suspension from the scheme.

if you do it again does Jim Mosley make you stand on the naughty step ?

 

[Punch]

Found it! This is the summary of NT26. Blame IGER & ADAS for the research!
I’ll edit my other post!

 

[graham mc]

would the government still push to ban it now net zero seams to have gone out the window

 

[robbie]

What bothers me is who has the final say on whether a facts qualified justification is correct or not???

Say you have a rec for untreated urea after 31st march??? This year,I think it would be perfectly justified to prove conditions are conducive to using urea.

What happens when the gestapo comes for there annual clipboard fest. I assume they have the final say over the FACTS QA despite not being qualified to pass judgement???

 

[graham mc]

if you do it again does Jim Mosley make you stand on the naughty step ?

the chances of either rt or dim jim being around in 2 years time??????????

 

[e3120]

would the government still push to ban it now net zero seams to have gone out the window

The urea and ammonia 'problem' is related to air quality (traps particulates apparently), not climate change.

The government has legal commitments to do something about it, the greenies took them to court for doing nothing, so the low-hanging fruit that is urea was targeted.

 

[Nearly]

Thirty days has September,
April, June, and November,
March has double this score.
All the rest have thirty-one,
Save February at twenty-eight,
But leap year, coming once in four,
February then has one day more

 

[Grass And Grain]

As a FACTS registered advisor I would much rather recommend urea goes on in April in cool and damp conditions than rush to apply it before end of March and see it all pee off into the ditches / ground water!? The metric on safe urea spreading should be day time temp and if the soil has adequate moisture - not a calendar date. I don’t deny risk of urea volatilisation should always be taken into account but in the UK this is only a very small period of summer - any advisor or farmer with an ounce of common sense wouldn’t apply urea when risk of volatilisation is high away as they want their investment on their crops , not in the atmosphere!

if you do it again does Jim Mosley make you stand on the naughty step ?

Makes one wonder about a rival scheme to RT. It could be similar to keep AIC and Flour Millers happy, just no urea rule.

Imagine DEFRA and NFU would be on the phone pretty quickly.