Keeping your Farming Business Legally Compliant with Environmental Regulations
One of the added complications of running a farming business is the broad range of environmental regulations that must be complied with.
Keeping on top of them all can be difficult. Figures in the Environment Agency’s Agriculture and the water environment: 2026 report show that 48% of inspections revealed at least one instance of non-compliance.
The penalties for failing to comply with these regulations can be significant.
In this blog, we’ve set out an overview of the main environmental regulations. Because the regulations are often highly detailed, we’ve also highlighted where you can go for further information on them.
Storage of Silage, Slurry, and Fuel Oil (SSAFO) Regulations
Silage, slurry, and agricultural fuel oil can all carry risks of polluting water supplies and ecosystems if not stored correctly. The SSAFO regulations provide detailed requirements to minimise these risks, covering rules that include:
- Where storage areas and silos can be sited
- The quality standards and necessary features of different types of storage
- When you have to notify the Environment Agency, before building new storage or making major changes to existing stores
The full requirements of the regulations can be found here.
Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ) regulations
NVZs are designated areas considered to have heightened risks from nitrate pollution, due to their proximity to water sources.
The use of nitrogen fertilisers in these zones is closely regulated to prevent harm from the nitrates they contain making their way into the water. This can affect water quality, but also lead to increased algae and plant growth, which can in turn impact the local ecosystem.
The NVZ regulations require farmers who have land within these zones to take extra precautions such as:
- Controlling when fertiliser is applied and how much is used
- Keeping records on the use of artificial and organic fertilisers that contain nitrogen
- Assessing the risks of run-off
- Ensuring fertiliser is not applied within certain distances of water sources
- Following extra requirements for storing organic manures in NVZs
The full NVZ guidance on the government’s website is highly detailed. If your farm falls within an NVZ, it can impose a huge administrative and regulatory burden on top of your farming business’s other responsibilities. Seeking legal advice from specialist agricultural lawyers can help to ease this burden.
Managing your land
Other environmental regulations concern the management of your land. These include obligations on:
- Managing soil to prevent erosion in bare earth fields
- Preventing water pollution
- Safely using, transporting, and storing pesticides
- Applying for Environmental Impact Assessments (when you are planning increases or changes to agricultural activity on pieces of land, including protected habitats or landscapes)
- Managing hedgerows (including their cutting and removal, and circumstances where they may be protected from removal)
Protecting the environment when keeping livestock
If your farming business keeps livestock, there are additional environmental regulations you must comply with. These include:
- Obtaining environmental permits for intensive pig or poultry farming
- Safely disposing of animals that have died
- Preventing contamination of watercourses from sheep dips
- Maintaining good soil quality and preventing erosion caused by animals
Why it’s important to stay compliant
With so many responsibilities contained within the regulations, it may be tempting to just see them as ‘red tape’ – or at least see red when thinking about them. But there are many worthy aims behind these regulations, such as:
- Maintaining clean water sources and air quality
- Protecting habitats for native species
- Promoting biodiversity
- Preventing pollution of the environment
- Preserving soil integrity
The possible penalties
But there are more immediate concerns from failing to keep your farming business compliant with environmental regulations.
The Environment Agency carries out inspections to ensure that farms are meeting their obligations. They can take enforcement action if they find issues which are not resolved within the timeframes they set. Ultimately, this could lead to significant penalties for your farming business, including large fines and restrictions to your operations.
Steps to take
To avoid non-compliance, it can be helpful to carry out an audit:
- Make yourself aware of the environmental regulations which apply to your farming business
- Systematically assess your compliance – are there any areas where you are not meeting the requirements of the regulations?
- Make changes where necessary
At each of these stages, it can be extremely helpful to have expert legal advice from solicitors who specialise in agricultural law.
At Bridge McFarland, we have years of experience helping farming businesses with the law. We can help you to navigate the often bewildering mass of regulations you have to follow.
Understanding and complying with everything required can represent a major time commitment. With our rural and agricultural legal experts on your side, you can focus on running your farming business, and leave the rest to us.
If you would like to discuss how we can help, please get in contact with us.
