§ Mr. Simon HughesTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1) if he has made an assessment of the percentage of farmers in the 10 designated nitrate sensitive areas who will have to reduce their fertiliser use in order to qualify for payment under the nitrate sensitive area scheme; and if he will make a statement;
206W(2) what reductions in the use of nitrate fertilisers he anticipates as a result of the introduction of 10 nitrate sensitive areas; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacleanOne of 18 obligations within the basic payment scheme is a requirement to apply no more than the economic optimum amount of inorganic nitrogen fertiliser for any crop, not more than 25 kgN/ha below that optimum for winter wheat or barley, and not more than 50 kgN/ha below for oilseed rape. I would expect the latter reductions to result in lower applications for most participants with arable land. More definitive information will be provided through the evaluation of the pilot scheme.