Experts get to work on drive to cut ammonia
A NATIONAL team of specialists has started work as part of a £3m drive to help farmers and landowners reduce ammonia emissions from agriculture.
The Catchment Sensitive Farming partnership between the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Environment Agency and Natural England will provide training and advice so that farmers can implement measures set out in a new industry code of good practice.
It will also see experts visit farms and offer help to farmers in applying for grant funding.
Defra reports that farming produces 88 per cent of the UK’s ammonia gas emissions which can drift over vast distances, damage the environment and mix with other pollutants to form particulates that harm human health.
Reducing emissions from farming forms part of the Government’s new Clean Air Strategy and Farming Minister George Eustice said: “There is growing evidence that ammonia emissions can have significant impacts to parts of our environment so we want to help farmers play their part in reducing them.”
The Country Land and Business Association welcomed the new support scheme and insisted that farmers were already working hard to reduce ammonia emissions, while Bob Middleton, programme manager of Catchment Sensitive Farming, said farm businesses stand to benefit from taking action.
He said: “The UK loses £138m of nitrogen per year from ammonia emissions, so by taking action to reduce them, farmers can get more value from their manure and fertiliser and save money.”