Applying Farmscoper software to identify concentrations of loss of nitrogen (mg/l N) from various farming scenarios to inform approach to consenting on Penwith Moors SSSI.
Loss of nitrate to groundwater is predicted for a number of farming ‘scenarios’ understood to be representative of farming in Penwith Moors. A first version of this report was originally completed in July 2022. After completion, it became apparent that overwinter losses of nitrogen from fertiliser applications had been omitted from Farmscoper v5 and thus the concentrations in that report would be an under-estimate.
This report (January 2023) uses a revised Farmscoper v5 which includes the over-winter nitrate losses from fertiliser application. As a result of this revision, all of the grassland scenario concentrations have increased above those predicated in the July 2022 report. Many farming scenarios were demonstrated to have concentrations of loss of nitrogen (mg/l N) in excess of the ‘trigger value’ for mesotrophic fen, including cereals, brassicas, dairy with FYM/slurry, intensive livestock grazing and some more extensive grazing systems depending upon average annual rainfall and soil drainage category.
This report (version 2, January 2023) replaces the original report (July 2022).