Field Place Farm is a pig-rearing unit located 2 kilometres to the south-east of Bolney. The farm comprises a number of agricultural buildings, the majority of which are used to keep and fatten pigs. In 2008 Defra increased the extent of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones (NVZ’s) across England and Wales such that many farm, including Field Place Farm, who had not been in a NVZ were now located within the new zones. Farms within NVZ’s cannot spread slurry on fields during the winter months and are required to provide 6 months of pig slurry storage.
At Field Place Farm, pig slurry is washed from the pig sheds, across the yard into a sump. The slurry is then pumped into a storage tank, which before the change in regulations would have been pumped out regularly with the slurry being spread on the farm’s fields all through the year. This is no longer permitted during winter months and at present the excess slurry is taken to a neighbouring farm by tanker. The purpose of the project was to design a new lagoon with sufficient capacity for 6 months storage over the winter period.
Rural Arisings Ltd worked with the landowner to consider the options for improving the existing system and then to design, prepare the planning application and construct a new storage lagoon with sufficient capacity to enable the farm to meet current regulations controlling the storage of slurry on pig farms. This was shown to be the most sustainable option.
The new storage lagoon and is currently being constructed in the corner of the field adjacent to the existing piggery buildings. The completed lagoon will be a large clay-lined pond (75 metres long and 25 metres wide with a capacity of 2,600 cubic metres) surrounded by grassed banks.
