Technical Assistance for the Establishment of a Farm

Technical Assistance for the Establishment of a Farm Advisory System (FAS) in Turkey Protection of water and agricultural soil An historical overview of EU policies

The essentials of life Please switch off!

Why all the regulation? What we don’t want to see

The beginning of EU water protection • 1975; EU-wide legislation for the protection and improvement of water quality. • By 1998, six addition water quality directives introduced. • Only one, the 1991 Nitrates Directive was targeted at agricultural practices

First approach to addressing water pollution 1, Point source • Located in specific places • Aimed at industry and urban environments (sewage) • Easy to identify, monitor and regulate • Examples. Sewage outlets Factory waste Leaking fuel stores

Second approach to addressing water pollution 2, Diffuse pollution • Usually low level but can be widespread • Agriculture the main source • Not often easy to identify, monitor and regulate (so many scenarios).

EU Water conference 1996 Concluded legislation was too fragmented. Proposed a Water Framework Directive with the following key aims; • expanding the scope of water protection to all waters, surface waters and groundwater • achieving "good status" for all waters by a set deadline • water management based on river basins

EU Water conference 1996 Water Framework Directive key aims (cont’d); • "combined approach" of emission limit values and quality standards • get the price of supplying water right • getting the citizen involved more closely • streamlining legislation

Continuation (III) of water protection history • 2000; adoption of Water Framework Directive (WFD) • 2005; cross-compliance introduced on agricultural subsidies • 2006; adoption of ground water directive for the protection of ground water setting: • Maximum set nitrate content of 50 mg/litre and • 0, 1 microgram of a single pesticide, or 0, 5 microgram/litre total content of pesticides (and metabolites) Source: Ground Water Directive (2006/118/EC 12 th December 2006)

More detailed information • http: //ec. europa. eu/environment/water/wa ter-framework/info/intro_en. htm

FINAL RESULTS; RESTORED WATER QUALITY ALLOWING MULTIPLE USE

Focus on agriculture • Nitrates directive aims at preventing agricultural nitrates pollution & promoting good agricultural practices. • More recently, the same measures are being used to prevent loss of phosphates from agricultuarl land.

Focus on agriculture Prevention of 3 main elements entering surface and ground waters: • Nitrogen and phosphates • Soil particles • Pesticides, veterinary medicines and other contaminants such as fuel oils

Picture expressing essence of EU nitrate directive

Nitrate Vulnerable Zones Member states need to identify areas of land which drain into polluted waters or waters at risk of pollution and which contribute to nitrate pollution Nitrate Vulnerable Zones in England • Based of nitrate concentrations in surface and groundwaters • Reviewed every 4 years

Codes of Good Agricultural Practice (Co. GAP) https: //www. gov. uk/government/publications/protecting-our-water-soil-and-air

Codes of Good Agricultural Practice (Co. GAP) Voluntary codes to include: • Limiting periods of N application to crop requirements • Limiting conditions for N application eg, not on steep slopes, frozen or snow covered ground, next to water courses

Codes of Good Agricultural Practice (Co. GAP) - 2 Voluntary codes to include: • Requirements for minimum storage capacity for manure • Promote the use of crop rotation, winter soil cover and catch crops to prevent leaching of nitrate and run-off in wet conditions

Examples of poor agricultural practice

Examples of good agricultural practice

NVZ requirements • Co. GAP become compulsory • Max manure application equivalent to 170 kg N/ha/year • Monitor nitrate concentrations and eurtrophication and report and revise every 4 years

NVZ requirements In England (examples): • Do not store or spread manure or site livestock feeders within 10 m of open water or 50 m of wells or springs • Farm operations should not lead to soil loss

EU action against eutrophication by phosphates • No EU mandatory requirements, Member States may apply their own. (In the Netherlands at maximum 50 -120 kg P 2 O 5/ha) • Absolute amounts depend on the location • England considers NVZ rules sufficient.

Soil erosion

Soil erosion leads to: • Pollution with nitrates, pesticides & phosphates • Decrease of soil layer • Decrease of soil fertility (water holding capacity, nutrients etc) • Emissions of carbon dioxide

Soil erosion leads to: • Excessive sedimentation of rivers • Decrease of the of arable land area • Increasing costs of drinking water production • Loss of biodiversity

2

Soil erosion in 2006 in Europe

Agricultural soils • Adoption of soil framework directive to protect agricultural soils was blocked in 2014 by several EU member states • For 9 pesticides, like DDT and Endosulfan there are legally binding maximum concentrations for soil. • No legally binding maxima for other so no overall EU limits like there are for groundwater • For organic manure (applied to soils) there are no regulations for its maximum allowed content of pesticides (metabolites)

Pesticides

Pesticides • Joint EU wide regulations on the authorization of pesticides, implemented by national authorization bodies • List of 33 priority (groups of) substances in surface water to be addressed in all EU member states • National set maximum levels of other chemicals (including pesticides) in surface waters

Example: Shortcomings of water protection from pesticide contamination in EU • Pesticide testing procedures don’t pay attention to long term effects • There are no ecological requirements for authorization of veterinary medicines. Many of them of have strong effects on insects, fish, plants etc • If there are norms, they are often frequently exceeded in many regions • non-testable substances without proper methods of analyses • Pesticide concentrations in water are measured only a few times per year, not reflecting full reality on the ground

Daily realities; • Rules and regulations are susceptable to fraud; for centralized governments it is very hard to control daily work on thousands of farms • Many individual land users have limited awareness of the wider impact of their farming practices also on their own farms

Draft cross-compliance measures on soil and water protection for Turkey Hints to advisers

Nitrates and phosphates - 1 SMR 1 Protection of water form nitrates Consider manure management plan to cover: • Storage • Soil analysis before application • When and where to apply manure • Where not to apply it

Nitrates and phosphates - 2 SMR 1 Protection of water form nitrates • Put emphasis on the selfinterest of farms in order to save money by not overapplying or spilling fertilizers into water bodies

Nitrate and phosphates - 3 • Explain the value of proper storage for organic fertilizers in terms of money; good storage pays off (SMR 1) • Explain the value of proper methods and timing of organic fertilizer application (SMR 1) 1 SMR: Statutory Management Requirements Low emission application of liquid manure (SMR 1)

Nitrates and phosphates - 4 • GEAC 1 – establish buffer strips alongside water courses • GEAC 3 Protection of groundwater

Hints to advisors • Farms themselves will benefit directly or indirectly from clean water and clean soil. Clean water is required for drinking water for animals, for irrigation and for the ecological balance (GAEC 3)

Soil protection - 1 Arable farms • Only horizontal tillage on slopes (GAEC 5) • Avoid formation of plough pans. They cause erosion and crop loss

Soil Protection- 2 Animal Farms, • Avoid erosion in river banks • Feeders which are far from aquatic bodies and in the places that the soil structure may not be harmed

Soil protection - 3 Grazing control • Improves farm income • Helps with cross compliance with regulations on erosion (GAEC 5, 6, 7) • Proper pasture rotation; no grazing of grass shorter than 5 cm (GAEC 5 & 6)

Soil protection - 4 • GEAC 6 Maintain soil organic matter • Explain the value of green manure crops in terms of nutrient conservation and in terms of pest control (GAEC 3)

Soil protection - 5 • Leave crop stubbles in the winter on slopes and on other vulnerable fields (GAEC 4 & GAEC 5) • Keep steep slopes under permanent bush or grass cover (GAEC 7 & GAEC 5)

Pesticides - 1 • Try to avoid use of pesticides in general and encourage use of preventive methods • Try to discourage use of seed disinfectants, especially imidacloprid, thiacloprid and similar systemic substances. They can kill soil life wash into surface and ground water

Pesticides - 2 • Try and limit or avoid the use of veterinary medicines that kill soil life, like ivermectines, deltamethrin and others

Finally Explain (again) to the farmer that good water and soil management leads to more efficient farming, higher crop yields, heathier animals and cleaner water for everyone!

Additional useful literature (available on the internet in English) • • Council directive of 12 December 1991 concerning the protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources (91/676/EEC) Directive 2000/60/ec of the European parliament and of the council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water policy Proposal for a directive of the European parliament and of the council establishing a framework for the protection of soil and amending directive 2004/35/ec Directive 2006/118/ec of the European parliament and of the council of 12 December 2006 on the protection of groundwater against pollution and deterioration 2008 (http: //ec. europa. eu/environment/waterframework/priority_substances. htm). Soil: worth standing your ground for. Arguments for the soil Framework Directive (2011 European Environmenal Bureau) Guidance Document No. 27; Technical Guidance For Deriving Environmental Quality Standards (European Commission, 2011) Agricultural phosphorus legislation in Europe (ILVO & Alterra 2014)

Thank you