Transcript PowerPoint-presentation

Nutrient management in
agriculture and Our commitments
to the Baltic Sea Action Plan
17 April 2015, Warzaw, Poland
Solutions for Polish and Baltic Eutrophication –
Low-Nutrient Surplus Agriculture and
Sustainable Wastewater Management
Mr Gunnar Norén
Executive Secretary to
Coalition Clean Baltic
1
Content of the Presentation
·Baltic Sea eutrophication
·P and N , necessary for mankind. Cannot be sustituted.
·Nutrient management on farmland today
·Saving valuable Nutrient resources for fertilizers
·HELCOM regulations on agriculture nutrients
·Future directions for Fertilizers management
*Recommended Nutrient surplus levels
2
Coalition Clean Baltic
CCB – Joining forces for the Baltic
• CCB is a network of Environmental
NGOs, grass-root level, in 11
countries bordering the Baltic Sea
• CCB was established in 1990
• CCB is environmental Citizens
Organisations (ECO) in cooperation
• CCB has 20 member organizations,
have 800 000 individual members
• CCB has organisations in: Belarus,
Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany,
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia,
Sweden and Ukraine
Nitrogen and Phosphorus
essential elements for
plant growth
• Cannot be substituted– necessary for
crop production & life on planet Earth
* Strategic natural resources for
mankind
• Relatively small proportion of
phosphorus fertilizers applied to food
production systems is taken up by
crops (15 %)
• A significant fraction of applied N and
P makes its way to the sea
• Push marine and aquatic systems
Sources for Phosphorus
fertilizer - Global
KLICKA FÖR ATT SKRIVA
Global Phosphorus productionPeak phosphorus
US Geological surveys have updated world-wide Presources. Peak-P delayed another 30 years
European Phosphorus use
P – announced as one of 20 Critical Raw Materials of EU
Lost P in European wastewater stream could cover 15 % of
the European mineral P demand
Nitrogen and Phosphorus
flows to biosphere &
oceans
• Biogeochemical cycles of N and P
have been radically changed by
humans, as result of many industrial
and agricultural processes
*
• Human activities now convert more
atmospheric nitrogen into reactive
forms than all of the Earth’s terrestial
processes combined
• Stockholm Resilience Center-Sustainable
Sciences for Biosphere Stewardship
Planetary Boundaries : The current status of the control
variables for seven of the nine planetary boundaries
boundariesboundaries
Source: Steffen and others, 16 January 2015, Science
AGRICULTURE and EUTROPHICATION
Baltic agriculture – contribute with
more than 50 % of the nutrient load
(Nitrogen & Phosphorus)
We are loosing from Baltic farmland
soils
10 000 ton P / year
230 000 ton N / year
Nutrient resources are wasted !
Agricultural N and P
balances
• OECD countries submit annual calculations
of soil N and P balance (also EUROSTAT)
- N and P-application levels in Europé
correlated to GDP and to population density
- NOT correlated to fertilizer requirement(soil
N and P status, or expected crop yield)
- Net P-application is justified if soil has low
P, as is the case in much of Central-Eastern
Europe
Soil phosphorus – negative
correlation
- Proportion of land with high P-status (good
or very good soil P supply) is over 50 % in
Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden
- The proportion of land with high P-status is
very much lower in EU 12 ’accession’ states
than in EU 15
- Comparison of soil P status to P fertiliser
balance shows a negative correlation:that
is, the opposite of agronomic logic – soils
needing higher P application are overall
actually receiving less, and soils with very
good or excess P status, needing no
mineral or organic P-application, receive
the highest amounts
Cumulative balances and
environmental impacts
-Since introduction of EU Nitrates Directive
(1991/676) total N surplus applied on land, in
Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark has exceeded
2000 kg N/ha
- Cumulative Nitrogen balances are
significantly lower in the EU 12 ’accession’
states
- Comparison shows – countries with higher
cumulatives N balances have High levels of
Nitrate groundwater pollution
- Countries with lower cumulative N balances
have lower nitrate pollution
Estimated trends in European reactive nitrogen emissions
between 1900 and 2000 (EU-27)
(European Nitrogen Assessment, Cambridge Univ. 2011)
Conclusion
• EU regulations are not achieving their
objectives (Safe groundwater, No
eutrophication )
regarding nutrient application and
resulting pollution
Recommendations
for Nitrogen fertilization
• Limit N-application to take into account
manure nitrogen, both as applied in same
year and accumulated from previous years
- Include soil N status and cumulative N
balances in agro-environmnetal indicators
Recommendations for
phosphorus fertilization
• Application limits for P, taking into
account crop P response
- Limit P-application , take into account P in manure
applied during the year and accumulated over
previous years
- Complete banning of P-application from manure
over 22 kg P / ha (HELCOM Annex III-Prevention of
pollution from agriculture)(if not a shortage of P in
soils, according to Nutrient-balanced calculations)
- Banning P-application to soils which already have
excess of P (No P-fertilization on P-saturated
soils)(No manure on such soils)
- Including soil P status and cumulative P balances in
agro-environmental indicators
For all Fertilizer use
• Among EU Member Statesharmonization calculation methods
for organic manure N and P contents
and uptake over years; Maximum
permissable (plant uptake organic +
total mineral) N doses
• Undertaken in Nitrates Directive
National Action Programs
• HELCOM has agreement(2013) to set
up harmonized nutrient levels in
various manure
Major reconstructuring of livestock
production across Europé is essential
EU Policy failures
• EU environmental policies are not
effective in reducing nutrient
pollution if livestock density is market
driven
- Up to 30-50 % of all European freshwaters have to
high nutrient levels, creating eutrophication etc
- European regional sea areas, Baltic Sea & North
Sea, have Eutrophication problems
- Regions with excess manure can sustain, only if
surplus manure are exported out from the
region(e.g. Flanders, Britanny, Germany)
Annual nitrogen flows (kg/ha) in a pig
farming system
The role of the farmer is crucial – importance of individual
farmers decisions. Farmers-businessmen, primary aim is to
optimise their production system to the benefit of
themselves
Potential for change for increased N efficiency (%) and that
achieved in practice by skilled farmers (European Nitrogen
Assessment, Cambridge Univ. 2011)
Nitrogen application ’map’ based on crop scanning by a
tractor-mounted N-sensor
Precision N-application, out from sensor maps
HELCOM regulations on
agriculture nutrients
• HELCOM Annex III, part 2 - Prevention of
pollution from agriculture (Helsinki
Convention is legally binding)
- Request Nutrient-balanced fertilization – Application
of fertilizer nutrient shall be balanced with the need
of the crops - No overfertilization
- Controlled via ”Nutrient surplus on farmland”
calculations
HELCOM Ministerial meeting, October
2013 decided
*WE AGREE applying by 2018 at the latest
annual nutrient accounting at farm level taking
into account soil and climate conditions giving
the possibility to reach nutrient balanced
fertilization and reduce nutrient losses at regional
level in the countries
*With a view to fully utilize nutrient content of
manure in fertilization practices and to avoid
overfertilization WE ALSO AGREE to establish
by 2016 national guidelines or standards for
nutrient content in manure and to develop by
2018 guidelines/recommendation on the use of
such standards;
Requirements on Baltic
farmland
*Mandatory Nutrient bookkeeping (N & P)
and Nutrient Surplus calculation (kg N &
P/ha,y) at soil-field level
*Baltic countries develop National tolerable
nutrient surplus limit values (max kg N/ha,y ,
kg P/ha,y) (HELCOM agreement 2013)
Nutrient application and Nutrient
Surplus levels
• Nitrate Directive : max 170 kg N/ha,y
- Complete banning of N-surplus over 50 kg
N/ha,y
- Tolerable N-surplus – crop production: 2025 kg N/ha,y
- Tolerable N-surplus – animal production:
25-35 (40) kg N/ha,y
-------------------------------------- Max P from manure: 22 kg P/ha,y (HELCOM
Annex III)
- Tolerable P-surplus levels: 0-2 kg P/ha,y
Phosphorus soil balance in regions of Sweden
Shortage & Surplus
KLICKA FÖR ATT SKRIVA
Nutrient balancing to be applied
on 3 levels
- Soil/field level
- Farm/neighbourhood/region level
- National level
(can also include manure nutrient export to
outside fields/regions/nations)
Intensive Agriculture in
Baltic catchment
• If most of the farmland in Baltic EU
accession countries will apply
* Intensive agricultural practices with
low-standard nutrient management
• Baltic Sea eutrophication will increase
• Impossible to solve the Baltic
eutrophication problem without
better Nutrient management on
Baltic farmland
Estimated environmental costs due to reactive nitrogen
emissions to air and to water in the EU-27
(European Nitrogen Assessment, Cambridge Univ. 2011)
Environmental damage related to N
effects from agriculture in EU-27
• Environmnetal damage estimated to 20 –
150 billion Euro per year
- Can be compared with the benefits on Nfertilizers for farmers of 10 – 100 billion
Euro per year
- With considerable uncertainty about longterm N-benefits for crop yield
(European Nitrogen Assessment, Cambridge
Univ. 2011)
Public money (Taxes) –
for Public goods
• National CAP-subsidies should
support – solving the overfertilization
& Baltic Sea eutrophication problem
• Rural Development Plans & AgroEnvironmental programmes
Feed the crop –
Not the soil
Thanks for your
attention!