The current Royal Decree 1051/2022 of 27 February 2022 establishing standards for sustainable nutrition inagricultural soils is amended in order to facilitate the implementation thereof.

Royal Decree amending Royal Decree 1051/2022 of 27 December 2022 establishing standards forsustainable nutrition in agricultural soils.

The draft consists of a single article divided into 16 paragraphs. The single article amends Royal Decree1051/2022 of 27 December 2022:

The definition of compost is replaced in order to supplement it in accordance with Royal Decree 506/2013 of28 June 2013 on fertilising products. The incorporation of the fertilizing plan as an annex to the holdinglogbook is replaced by the inclusion of the relevant data in the logbook, so that it is digitised, allowing it to becontrolled by automated means.
The time for the maximum period during which the stacks may remain in the enclosures, in general, isextended from 5 to 10 days, and up to 20 days in the event that the stacked material has been composted ordigested, in Article 9, thus, making the period more flexible and allowing a longer period for those materialswhose risk of nitrogen losses (both emissions and leaching) is minimum.
Article 10 sets a threshold of 0.1 % ammoniacal nitrogen for the prohibition of the application of materials otherthan slurry on fresh matter referred to in paragraph 2. It also extends to the type of material applied, amongother characteristics already foreseen, the conditions under which the competent authorities of theAutonomous Communities may establish a maximum period of less than 24 hours (extended from 12 hours to24 hours to carry out the burial of manure and other products after its application, where mandatory).
A number of provisions are introduced to encourage the use of the electronic logbook where it is notmandatory.
In Annex II, the exclusion period for winter cereals is amended from June to August, thus allowing for basaldressing in September. In Annex III, the clarification contained in the article on the need and advantage ofkeeping a digital holding logbook on the part of the farmer, when he or she is not obliged to do so, is conveyed.Annex IV incorporates technical improvements in the wording by specifying that the value for arsenic refers tothe total, not to the inorganic arsenic, and that the values of heavy metals refer only to residues, not tofertilising products. These are also incorporated for the chromium limits.
The application of materials that have previously been treated through composting or biodigestion (solidfractions) as a new mitigation activity is incorporated in Annex V, as these biological treatments contribute toclimate change mitigation by reducing emissions and retaining more carbon in the soil, and the use of acidifiedslurry or urease inhibitors, and the use of urease inhibitors is adapted to the practical conditions on livestockholdings. It is also incorporated as a new measure for mitigating the emissions produced by organic andorgano-mineral products and materials, the burial of manure in the first 12 hours after its application, by meansof a mouldboard plough, chisel plough, rotary plow or equipment that ensures an equivalent work, except indirect seeding, in conservation agriculture or in pastures, as a result of an observation from Navarre.
Annex VIII concerning waste water treatment plant (WWTP) sludge, as a material for use in fertilisingagricultural soils, states that they must be treated by one of the methods established by this Royal Decree, andfour new categories of material are added to the list of materials other than fertilising and manure products thatcan be used in the fertilisation of agricultural soils, in order to clarify it in the light of the doubts raised in thepublic consultation and public hearing and information. Technical adjustments to the total organic matterrequirements are also incorporated and amended for composted and digested materials, that only Salmonellaand Escherichia coli should be declared.
Finally, given that technified holdings may have their own, precise systems that offer individualised anddetailed recommendations for each plot or even part of the holding plot, Annex IX on good practices in the useof irrigation water relating to fertilisation, incorporates the recommendation for the use of sensors for checkingsoil moisture content.