Membership

To participate in the Poole Harbour Nutrient Management Scheme, farmers need to become members of the Poole Harbour Agriculture Group (PHAG). It is an annual membership.

MEMBERSHIP IS NOW OPEN FOR THE 2025/26 YEAR!

PLEASE COMPLETE THE FARMER MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FORM BELOW AND THE PHAG TEAM WILL BE IN TOUCH TO PROCESS YOUR APPLICATION.

The Environment Agency will be emailing out the version 8 of the Nitrate Leaching Tool (NLT) in January, but as the deadline for completion of 27th February 2026 comes closer and appreciating that many landowners would like to get on with filling the tools out for the 2025 year (spring 2025 – spring 2026) the PHAG Board have taken the decision to open our membership for 2025 now, and encourage landowners to all use last year’s NLT tool, version 7, alongside the recent Agricultural Compliance Tool (ACT).

    Fields marked with an asterisk * are required.
    Email info@pooleharbournitrates.org.uk if you are having difficulties using the form.

    Contact details

    First Name*

    Last Name*

    Business Name*

    Email*

    Alternative Email

    Phone Number*

    Alternative Phone Number

    Correspondence address

    Address Line 1*

    Address Line 2*

    Town*

    County*

    Post Code*

    Eligibility check

    SBI Number*

    Land control and responsibility

    Which best describes your responsibility for the management of the land parcels under this SBI?*

    If 'Other', please describe:

    Land area

    What is the total land area of the land parcels under this SBI within Poole Harbour catchment?*

    Additional Farm info

    What type of farming is practised on these land parcels?

    If 'Other', please describe:

    Commitment statement

    If my application to join the scheme is approved, I commit to the following:





    Terms and Conditions





    PHAG have uploaded the training videos to our Resource page, please take a look if you need assistance with completing the NLT.

    All farmers need to have registered with the EA to start the NLT (Nitrate Leaching Tool) request process. If you have already done this for the 2023/24 year, then you do not need to register again.  For new applicants, please email poolefarmreturn@environment-agency.gov.uk and include your name, farm name and address, SBI, CPH and telephone number.

    The EA will email you a link to an interactive mapping website, where you can check that your holding number includes all the field parcels that you manage. Once this is correct, the EA will pre-populate your bespoke NLT and email it to you, please allow a few days for it to be processed and returned.  This is then ready for you to input your farm data.

    Members must return their completed NLT and ACT to PHAG by the 27th February 2026 deadline.

    Farmer Membership- what’s involved?

    Farmer members are provided with approved tools (the Agricultural Compliance Tool and Nitrate Leaching Tool) and work towards reducing their nitrate losses collectively over a number of years, in accordance to the Environment Agency’s glidepath. If members reduce their nitrate losses below the year’s glidepath target, they can sell these ‘allowances’ to other farmer members in the catchment who have not been able to reach the target. This in-sector balancing will be managed by Poole Harbour Agriculture Group. Together, farmer members will be required to bring down nitrate inputs from agriculture in the catchment to avoid the introduction of further regulation.

    As a member of PHAG and participant in PHNMS, you will be required to complete the Environment Agency’s Agricultural Compliance Tool and Nitrate Leaching Tool for your land parcels within the Poole Harbour Catchment, and return both completed tools to PHAG for verification. Under the rules of the Approved Scheme (PHNMS), PHAG members work to aggregated sliding ‘glidepath’ targets for nitrate losses (meaning all members’ data is pooled and reported anonymously to the EA by PHAG- your individual farm data is never passed to the EA by us), rather than the individual farm level target of 18.1kg/N/ha/yr set for individual farm businesses outside the scheme (non-members), who report directly to the EA.

    Any individual or business can apply for Farmer Membership if they:

    • have above 1 ha agricultural land at their disposal,
    • are registered on the Rural Land Registry
    • are listed as an agricultural holding,
    • are wholly or partly within the Poole Harbour Catchment area

    Eligibility and Membership Guidance

    The full details of membership and eligibility for the scheme can be explored in the document below.

    Read eligibility details here
    Poole Harbour Nutrient Management Scheme
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