Nitrogen cap (N cap)

Since 1 July 2021, on all farms 20 hectares and larger with any grazed land, no more than 190 kilograms of synthetic nitrogen per hectare may be applied per year to:

• any individual hectare of pasture
• the pastoral use land as a whole (that is, the combined area of pasture, annual forage crops and other pastoral use land) when averaged across that area.

Many farming operations will not be affected by the nitrogen cap but heavy users of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser on grazed land are likely to be.

The cap’s weight limit applies only to the nitrogen part of the fertiliser, not to the fertiliser in its entirety. Biological nitrogen fertilisers are not covered by the nitrogen cap. These are any solid or liquid substance applied to plants or land in which the nitrogen comes from animals or plants.

Please note that the cap does not apply to nitrogen fertiliser applied to maize silage, other ungrazed crops or pasture ungrazed during the shut-up period and then used for silage.

The cap is one of several regulations from central government aimed at limiting the impacts of nitrogen on our waterways.

Underpinning these regulations is the principle of Te Mana o te Wai, which requires that water quality and ecosystem health be prioritised over any human activities that might cause harm, like the excessive use of synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.

The requirement to report applies only to farms of 20 hectares or greater on which dairy cows are grazed, and to non-complying activity consent holders.

A non-complying activity consent must be sought from us if you calculate that you will exceed the nitrogen cap, and may be granted by us only under limited circumstances.

All dairy farmers are required to report because the dairy sector is the most intensive user of synthetic nitrogen.

Using too much can be inefficient.

Good nutrient management has always been an important part of farming best practice as this will keep nutrients cycling within the farm system and reduce losses to the environment to the bare minimum.

Over-fertilising, especially on saturated soils during winter, creates high risk of nutrients being washed out through the soil and lost from farm systems. The more you use, the greater this risk becomes.

Using too much is bad for the environment and that’s bad for everyone in the long run.

Water quality in our region is currently in decline and nitrogen leaching from pastoral farming land is a significant contributing factor.

We support the Government’s commitment to halt and reverse this decline. We want to make our fresh water safe for swimming and food gathering, and to continue to be able to meet the needs of our communities and economy.

Climate change is also having increasingly severe impacts on our daily lives, and particularly on the farming sector, through the increasing frequency of droughts and flooding. Nitrous oxide, a by-product of nitrogen fertiliser, is also a potent greenhouse gas that is contributing to these changes.

Successive studies suggest the optimal nitrogen application for maximising productivity without compromising efficiency sits comfortably below the 190kg N/ha/year cap, at around 150kg. The nitrogen cap is therefore unlikely to hinder dairy profits, and maintaining a healthy margin below it could also save you money.

We expect most farmers will already be tracking their nutrient use in some form and that most farms will be unlikely to exceed the cap.

Unless authorised by a resource consent, farmers must comply with the nitrogen cap for synthetic fertilisers.

Consent may be sought for a short duration. Applications will need to present a detailed and evidence-based case, and the granting of these consents is not guaranteed. This option is not provided to maintain business-as-usual for high nitrogen use, but to make nitrogen reductions more manageable where immediate compliance is not possible.

If you require a consent, please submit a request and we'll be in touch to discuss your options.

A calculation spreadsheet can be found at n-cap.teurukahika.govt.nz

It is intended to be used in conjunction with the N-cap web portal to help support the necessary calculations involved.

In some instances, we may accept this information being provided to us directly; however, this is being strongly discouraged to ensure a consistent approach and make reporting as straightforward as possible for farmers.

If you use the regional sector’s reporting tool you’ll need the following information:

• total land area of your farm in hectares
• total land area used for:
  • grazed land split into:
    • grazed forage crops
    • grazed non-forage crops
  • un-grazed land
• kg of nitrogen fertiliser applied for each land use category
• name/s of the fertiliser applied (including its nitrogen percentage) for each land use category
• your New Zealand Business Number (check whether you have one, or apply for one)
• your Dairy Supply Number.

No, you only need to enter data in one system.

If you purchase your fertiliser from both Ravensdown and Ballance, then you can submit your records for both companies through either one of their tools. Each company can record fertiliser purchased from the other company, and on-farm stored fertiliser.

Reporting, in this context, means entering your synthetic nitrogen use information into one of the available N-cap reporting tools and ensuring it is submitted. Only dairy farmers are required to report their nitrogen use.

Recording simply means tracking and keeping hold of the same nitrogen use information for your own records. Synthetic nitrogen fertiliser application must be recorded for all pastoral use land.

If you think you may not have sufficient records for to report your use for the current reporting year, please submit a request and we'll be in touch to discuss your options.

If you applied any synthetic nitrogen fertiliser at any time in the 12 months to 30 June, this amount needs to be recorded in your fertiliser supplier’s tool (HawkEye or MyBallance) or the N-cap web portal. If you have records available from the previous owner, this should also be recorded.

If you have not applied synthetic fertiliser in the 12 months to 30 June, and do not have records from the previous owner, please record the synthetic nitrogen use as ‘zero’.

Your complete records for the next annual reporting period will be required.

The Ministry for the Environment’s guidance on synthetic nitrogen reporting states that farmers must provide “records of all synthetic nitrogen fertiliser purchased during the year”.

Providing fertiliser receipts is not required when you report your nitrogen use. The reporting systems available to record your nitrogen use also require records rather than receipts.

However, it’s a good idea to keep the physical receipts on file. Keeping receipts will mean you have proof of purchase should we have any queries about your nitrogen application.

In the N-cap web portal, you will need to enter purchase records to capture the fertiliser supplier name, purchase date, product name and quantity purchased, all of which you should find on your physical receipt.

This approach is consistent between the regional and unitary councils and fertiliser company reporting tools, and provides more consistent summary information on purchases.

We are aware that many farmers already supply some fertiliser data to their dairy company. The data required by these regulations is not the same. The development of the new tools by regional and unitary councils and the fertiliser industry has been carried out to meet these requirements and provide a consistent way for farmers to submit their data.

The legislation requires you to provide specific application dates by product, as well as the average synthetic nitrogen amounts applied by land category. This is not included in the Statement of Fertiliser Purchase (SOFP). The SOFP is also produced for a different time period. Therefore, you cannot use your annual statement of fertiliser purchase.

The information needed to meet Ministry for the Environment requirements is the application rate of synthetic nitrogen on pastoral land, regardless of the terms of purchase. You should record the application rates for all synthetic nitrogen fertiliser applied. This should be recorded only once for each contiguous landholding. It’s good practice to keep the physical receipts on file though, in case we have any queries.

HawkEye, MyBallance and the N-Cap web portal all allow you to view and download a PDF copy of the information that you, or your representative, have entered for your farm. This is a summary report of all the information you have authorised for submission to the N-Cap database for reporting to councils and the Ministry for the Environment.

We will hold the submitted data for compliance purposes. If you have any questions about the information held for your farm, please contact us.

If you do not have a digital map that can interface with either HawkEye or MyBallance, then you should use the N-cap web portal. This tool does not currently require recording of mapped property or land area boundaries.

If you haven’t purchased or applied any synthetic nitrogen fertiliser in the 12 months to 30 June, please record your synthetic nitrogen use as ‘zero’ in HawkEye, MyBallance or councils’ N-cap web portal. This will be the same requirement for any year when you do not use synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.

No, the regulations state that all farms need to record synthetic nitrogen use; however, the requirement for reporting this to councils is only for dairy farms that milk cows.

The nitrogen reporting tools available to you will prompt you to enter your respective synthetic nitrogen use for each relevant land use type set out in the regulations. There is also good guidance available from the Ministry for the Environment about how to record synthetic nitrogen use for these different land uses, here.

You will need to record the purchase of liquid fertiliser which contains synthetic nitrogen. This needs to be recorded in one of the fertiliser supplier’s tools (HawkEye or MyBallance) or the N-cap web portal.

Recording the application rate will require conversion to kg per hectare for the appropriate year.