Concern over decline of liming
The British Survey of Fertiliser Practice* suggests that the steady decline in agricultural land area receiving lime in Britain appears to be reversing slowly for arable agriculture, but for grassland agriculture it is a differerent and more worrying story – see ‘News and Events’ for more information.
The survey also concludes that this area is still considerably less than that calculated to require liming. In addition, it states the principle causes of acidification have not lessened, and it is reasonable to believe that significant areas of arable land, and more particularly grassland, are at a pH level which could limit productivity.
*Organised and jointly funded by the Fertiliser Manufacturers' Association (FMA), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Scottish Executive Rural Affairs.
LimeX
Proven over more than 80 years, LimeX is an easily spreadable,
high-quality liming material ideal for the correction of soil acidity
and general conditioning. It is suitable for agriculture, horticulture,
brownfield restoration and the built environment.
Guidance on Storing LimeX
LimeX is an agricultural liming product and is not specifically subject to the revised NVZ guidance or regulatory enforcement. Currently, only general guidance exists for the responsible environmental management of liming products within the CoGAP 2009 (see Section 5.6 432-435 incl).
It is important to store LimeX products correctly in order to maintain friability and ensure ideal spreading characteristics. Rainfall can have a detrimental effect on the friability of site-stored LimeX products. In order to minimise the effect we recommend the following:
- Use covered storage or alternatively minimise the surface area by creating a coned or ‘A’ shaped store.
- Avoid leaving tipped loads as isolated heaps or where rainwater is slow to drain.
- Be aware of any ‘fall’ on the storage area that could lead to rainwater collecting and ‘trapping’ around the product.
- With agricultural use, when early season spreading is planned using lime spreaders, cover the stored product to minimise surface wetting by rainfall (this can compromise the spreading effectiveness of some spreading machines).
- Select your LimeX storage site responsibly, to minimise the likelihood of environmental or nuisance issues arising.
- The occupier of the land is responsible for agreeing the location of any temporary in-field LimeX storage.
- We recommend that in-field storage heaps should not be located in the following way:
- within 10 metres of surface water or a land drain
- within 30 metres of a watercourse (including ditches) if the land slopes steeply (12 degrees (1 in 5) or greater
- within 50 metres of a spring, well or borehole
- on land likely to become waterlogged or flooded
Note that FYM spreading machines adapted for LimeX can achieve particularly uniform applications even after the product has been exposed to rainfall.
LimeX has Soil Association approval and can be used with complete confidence with organic farming systems.
*Consult your certification body
A unique advantage of LimeX, and an important one regarding overall costs, is the value of the nutrients integral in the product
