About 350,000 tonnes of
Ammonia gas are released into the air each year in the UK. Nearly 50% of this
comes from farming. The rest comes from numerous small sources including industry,
sewage, wild birds and animals etc.
Farming is a major source because livestock excrete much of the Nitrogen ingested
in their diet as urea which is readily broken down into Ammonia.
Following emission Ammonia may be deposited on the ground or on plants nearby.
Ammonia is damaging to the environment because it:
Strong environmental pressures
within the EU to reduce Ammonia emissions are likely to lead to national regulations
in the UK within the next few years. Large pig and poultry farms will be affected
much sooner by the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive.
The best way to reduce emissions is to control losses from the storage and spreading
of manures. On many farms it will be necessary to accept a range of measures
that may include:
These measures have the added advantage of conserving Nitrogen in the manures
for use by crops. Band spreaders and injectors also reduce the contamination
of grass swards intended for silage or grazing.
*(trailing shoes/hoses)
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