Journey
Regulations that apply to your farm
A quick decision-tree navigator that helps you identify which regulations apply to your specific farm based on what you keep, grow, and do. Each answer reveals applicable regulatory bodies and links to the relevant compliance guides.
Find out which regulations apply to your farm
UK farming is regulated by more than 10 different bodies, each with their own rules, inspections, and enforcement powers. This navigator helps you quickly identify which regulations matter to your specific farm.
Work through the sections that apply to you. Each section reveals the regulatory bodies you must deal with and links to detailed compliance guides.
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Requirements for all farms
Regardless of what you farm, these obligations apply to every agricultural holding in England.
Farm health and safety essentials
Legal duties, risk assessment, top causes of farm fatalities, insurance, training, and RIDDOR reporting.
Keep children safe on farms
Age restrictions for farm work, prohibited activities, safe play areas, and legal duties for family farms.
Farming Rules for Water compliance
Fertiliser timing, soil protection, buffer strips, and NVZ rules that apply to all farms in England.
Understand farm rules after cross-compliance ended
Since cross-compliance ended on 31 December 2023, the baseline rules apply directly to every farm in England, whether or not you claim scheme payments.
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Do you keep livestock?
If you keep cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry, or deer, you must register as a livestock keeper and comply with identification, movement, welfare, and disease control rules.
Register land to keep livestock
How to get a CPH number from the RPA and register as a livestock keeper with APHA.
Identify and tag livestock correctly
Tagging deadlines by species, ear tag types, and replacement tag procedures.
Report livestock movements and standstill rules
Movement reporting deadlines and the reporting system for each species.
Recognise and report notifiable animal diseases
Reporting suspicion of a notifiable disease is a legal duty for every keeper.
Cattle keepers
Cattle keepers have additional obligations for TB testing, passports, and reporting movements to the British Cattle Movement Service.
Bovine TB testing requirements
Testing frequency by risk area, pre-movement and post-movement testing, and what happens during a breakdown.
Cattle welfare requirements
Housing, bedding, ventilation, handling facilities, and five welfare needs for beef and dairy cattle.
Pig keepers
Pig welfare requirements
Space allowances, enrichment, permitted procedures, weaning age, housing standards, and transport rules.
Sheep and goat keepers
Sheep welfare requirements
Castration and tail docking rules, pain relief requirements, shearing, and general welfare standards.
Poultry keepers
Poultry welfare requirements
Stocking densities for laying hens and broilers, enriched colony standards, and free-range requirements.
Get an environmental permit for intensive livestock
Permit thresholds, pre-application ammonia screening, BAT compliance, and the bespoke Part A(1) application process.
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Environmental obligations
All farms must comply with Farming Rules for Water. Additional rules apply if your land is in a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone (approximately 55% of English farmland) or if you store slurry, silage, or fuel oil.
NVZ compliance
Closed spreading periods, nitrogen limits, storage requirements, and record keeping for farms in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones.
Slurry and silage storage (SSAFO)
Construction standards, minimum storage capacity, EA notification requirements, and fuel oil bunding.
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Funding schemes
Environmental land management schemes offer payments for environmental improvements. These are voluntary but increasingly important as delinked payments end after the 2027 payments.
Compare ELM schemes: SFI vs CS vs LR
Which scheme suits your farm, how schemes combine, and how to choose between them.
Prepare for the end of BPS delinked payments
Payment reduction schedule (76% cut in 2025), income replacement options, and key dates.
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Farm machinery and vehicles
If you use tractors, trailers, or agricultural implements on public roads, specific rules apply for weight limits, lighting, speed, licensing, and red diesel usage.
Farm machinery safety
PUWER requirements, tractor ROPS and seatbelts, PTO guarding, maintenance records, and training.
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Preparing for inspections
Multiple bodies inspect farms. Understanding who might visit and what they check helps you stay prepared year-round.
Prepare for farm inspections
Which bodies inspect, what triggers visits, evidence required, and your rights during inspections.
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Farm assurance schemes (voluntary)
Farm assurance schemes like Red Tractor and RSPCA Assured are voluntary but may be required by your buyers. They add standards beyond statutory requirements.
Navigate farm assurance schemes
Compare Red Tractor, RSPCA Assured, Soil Association, LEAF Marque, QMS, and FAWL. Costs, audit frequency, and which scheme suits your market.
Crops, game and selling direct
If you grow crops, run a shoot or sell from the farm, these rules apply too.
Grow and sell crops: seed, spraying and certification
Seed marketing, pesticide operator competence, sprayer testing, and vineyard and wine duties.
Run a shooting, game or wildlife management business
Firearms certificates, close seasons, deer and wildlife law.
Diversify your farm business
Farm shops, holiday lets, camping, renewable energy, equestrian and events, with the registration and planning each needs.
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Tax and succession planning
Farm tax obligations include standard business taxes plus sector-specific reliefs. Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief changed on 6 April 2026, so succession planning matters.
Farm inheritance tax planning (APR/BPR)
New thresholds from April 2026, 10-year instalment payments, and succession planning steps.
Agricultural tenancy rights in Scotland
Scottish farm tenancy types, rent review procedures, notice periods, succession rights, and Scottish Land Court jurisdiction.
Next steps
This navigator has identified the key regulations for your farm type. For a comprehensive annual view of compliance deadlines, see the farm compliance calendar.