A major new study on the impact of nitrogen fertiliser was launched yesterday.
The European Nitrogen Assessment involved experts from 21 countries and puts the annual environmental damage at £60-£280 billion – more, it claims, than the additional income gained by the use of such products.
The report does not dispute the critical role of nitrogen fertiliser in growing healthy crops, but seeks efficiencies and improvements in use. Lead editor Dr Mark Sutton, of the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, said: “Nearly half the world’s population depends on synthetic, nitrogen-based fertilizer for food, but measures are needed to reduce the impacts of nitrogen pollution.”
NFU comment
Listen to our chief environment adviser Dr Diane Mitchell on BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today programme here (around nine minutes).
Dr Mitchell said: “Nitrogen is a critical nutrient for good healthy crops and will continue to be needed to ensure that we meet the food needs of our growing population in Europe.
“Farmers and land managers are already taking steps to better manage nitrogen and its impacts through being more efficient. Fertiliser use on farm crops has changed significantly in the past 20 years showing a decline in use of the major nutrients.
“What is needed is a range of actions and mechanisms to ensure that farmers can retain the capacity to produce food while also continuing to safeguard the environment. Initiatives such as the Tried & Tested nutrient management project, encouraging farmers to plan and manage their nutrients, are excellent examples of good partnership working between government, its agencies and other key agricultural organisations.
“And the farming sector launched its own Greenhouse Gas Action Plan this week setting out how the industry will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, including nitrous oxide, in the next few years.
“Eating less meat as one of the solutions is a simplistic solution to what is a highly complex situation. Agricultural production in the UK is currently responsible for around nine per cent of total UK GHG emissions and the British livestock and dairy sectors are already doing much to tackle the effects on the environment.
“And it mustn’t be forgotten that meat and dairy products are an important component of a healthy, balanced diet.
“Investment in applied research and knowledge exchange to better understand and better manage the interactions between the impacts of climate change, our use of natural resources, wildlife species and habitats and food production is also needed."
See also: Tried & Tested nutrient management site.
- Owen Davies - 18/04/2011
I think the European Nitrogen Assessment is to be welcomed as a major review that seeks to add to our understanding of the complex nitrogen cycle and I shall be looking at it very carefully. It should not be overlooked that farmers have in their care a substantial part of the important exchange between atmospheric nitrogen and other forms. This important exchange is often overlooked, but is far larger than one might think. The nitrogen cycle works well at ground level, but much less efficiently the futher away the compounds get from the centre of activity.
regards,
Owen Davies
- don morris - 18/04/2011
hopefully long term the fixing of nitrogen for arable and grass crops could come from the air N ie.symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil bacteria as occurs with legumes now. I`m told by plant breeders that this genetic engineering is complex.However more funding would speed up research as the rewards would be significant both economically and environmentally.