Integrated Assessment of Nitrogen Losses from Agriculture in EU‐27 using MITERRA‐EUROPE

Velthof, G.L.; Oudendag, D.A.; Witzke, Peter; Asman, W. A. H.; Klimont, Zbigniew; Oenema, O.

doi:10.2134/jeq2008.0108

Cited by 273 publications

(260 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…The modelling concept of MITERRA-Global is similar to the MITERRA-Europe model (Velthof et al 2009;Lesschen et al 2011), but it includes a larger geographic region. Main MITERRA-Global input data include: crop data, livestock data, feed data, fertilizer consumption data and spatial data on land cover, soil and climate.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of uncertainties in greenhouse gas emission profiles of livestock sectors in Africa, Latin America and Europe

et al. 2015

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The global animal food chain has a large contribution to the global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but its share and sources vary highly across the world. However, the assessment of GHG emissions from livestock production is subject to various uncertainties, which have not yet been well quantified at large spatial scale. We assessed the uncertainties in the relations between animal production (milk, meat, egg) and the CO 2 , CH 4 , and N 2 O emissions in Africa, Latin America and the European Union, using the MITERRA-Global model. The uncertainties in model inputs were derived from time series of statistical data, literature review or expert knowledge. These model inputs and parameters were further divided into nine groups based on type of data and affected greenhouse gas. The final model output uncertainty and the uncertainty contribution of each group of model inputs to the uncertainty were quantified using a Monte Carlo approach, taking into account their spatial and cross-correlation. GHG emissions and their uncertainties were determined per livestock sector, per product and per emission source category. Results show large variation in the GHG emissions and their uncertainties for different continents, livestock sectors products or source categories. The uncertainty of total GHG emissions from livestock sectors is higher in Africa and Latin America than in the European Union. The uncertainty of CH 4 emission is lower than that for N 2 O and CO 2 . Livestock parameters, CH 4 emission factors and N emission factors contribute most to the uncertainty in the total model output. The reliability of GHG emissions from livestock sectors is relatively high (low uncertainty) at continental level, but could be lower at country level.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of uncertainties in greenhouse gas emission profiles of livestock sectors in Africa, Latin America and Europe

et al. 2015

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“…By applying a uniform calculation scheme as in MITERRA we could scrutinize results in the national reports and benchmark nitrogen surpluses and nitrate concentration at the more appropriate sub-national level. MITERRA consists of an input module with activity data and emission factors, a set of measures to mitigate ammonia and greenhouse gas emission and nitrate leaching, a calculation module, and an output module (Velthof et al, 2009;Lesschen et al, 2011). The database of MITERRA is on national and regional level (NUTS2, according Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics in the EU) and includes data of N inputs, N outputs, livestock numbers, land use, crop types, soil type, and emission factors for NH 3 , N 2 O, and NO x , and leaching factors for NO 3 .…”

Section: Miterra-europementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Crop areas were derived from EUROSTAT at NUTS2 level and crop yields from FAOSTAT at national level as the EUROSTAT data was incomplete. Grassland yields and N contents of grassland were estimated using the methodology of Velthof et al (2009), because grassland yields are not available from statistics. The number of livestock in each year was derived from EURO-STAT.…”

Section: Miterra-europementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nitrogen fertilizer was distributed over crops relative to their nitrogen demand, taking account of the amount of applied manure and grazing manure and their respective fertilizer equivalence (Velthof et al, 2009). Further nitrogen inputs include biological N fixation, which is estimated as a function of land use and crop type (legumes) and nitrogen deposition that is derived at NUTS2 level from EMEP (EMEP, 2010).…”

Section: Precipitation Fraction Leaching Fraction Leachingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Management, regulation and environmental impacts of nitrogen fertilization in northwestern Europe under the Nitrates Directive; a benchmark study

et al. 2012

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Abstract. Implementation of the Nitrates Directive (NiD) and its environmental impacts were compared for member states in the northwest of the European Union (Ireland, United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Northern France and Germany). The main sources of data were national reports for the third reporting period for the NiD (2004NiD ( -2007 and results of the MITERRA-EUROPE model. Implementation of the NiD in the considered member states is fairly comparable regarding restrictions for where and when to apply fertilizer and manure, but very different regarding application limits for N fertilization. Issues of concern and improvement of the implementation of the NiD are accounting for the fertilizer value of nitrogen in manure, and relating application limits for total nitrogen (N) to potential crop yield and N removal. The most significant environmental effect of the implementation of the NiD since 1995 is a major contribution to the decrease of the soil N balance (N surplus), particularly in Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. This decrease is accompanied by a modest decrease of nitrate concentrations since 2000 in fresh surface waters in most countries. This decrease is less prominent for groundwater in view of delayed response of nitrate in deep aquifers. In spite of improved fertilization practices, the southeast of the Netherlands, the Flemish Region and Brittany remain to be regions of major concern in view of a combination of a high nitrogen surplus, high leaching fractions to groundwater and tenacious exceedance of the water quality standards. On average the gross N balance in 2008 for the seven member states in EU-ROSTAT and in national reports was about 20 kg N ha −1 yr −1 lower than by MITERRA. The major cause is higher estimates of N removal in national reports which can amount to more than 50 kg N ha −1 yr −1 . Differences between procedures in member states to assess nitrogen balances and waterPublished by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. H. J. M. van Grinsven et al.: Benchmarking the Nitrates Directive in northwestern Europequality and a lack of cross-boundary policy evaluations are handicaps when benchmarking the effectiveness of the NiD. This provides a challenge for the European Commission and its member states, as the NiD remains an important piece of legislation for protecting drinking water quality in regions with many private or small public production facilities and controlling aquatic eutrophication from agricultural sources.

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“…In the Sand region, the upper metre of groundwater is defined as water leaching from the root zone (Baumann et al 2012). NLFs are used in more models (Velthof et al 2009;Owens et al 2012), but NLFs used in models in the USA and the UK related N use instead of N surplus to nitrate leaching from the root zone (Owens et al 2012). NLFs are normally derived using data from lysimeter plot and field experiments (Simmelsgaard 1998;Wachendorf et al 2004Wachendorf et al , 2006Barton et al 2009;Perego et al 2012) or model calculations (Dalgaard et al 2006;Owens et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of long-term monitoring data to derive a relationship between nitrogen surplus and nitrate leaching for grassland and arable land on well-drained sandy soils in the Netherlands

Fraters

Leeuwen

Boumans

et al. 2015

Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section B — Soil & Plant Sc

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The decrease in nitrogen (N) use in agriculture led to improvement of upper groundwater quality in the Sand region of the Netherlands in the 1991-2009 period. However, still half of the farms exceeded the European nitrate standard for groundwater of 50 mg/l in the 2008-2011 period. To assure that farms will comply with the quality standard, an empirical model is used to derive environmentally sound N use standards for sandy soils for different crops and soil drainage conditions. Key parameters in this model are the nitrate-N leaching fractions (NLFs) for arable land and grassland on deep, well-drained sandy soils. NLFs quantify the fraction of the N surplus on the soil balance that leaches from the root zone to groundwater and this fraction represents N available for leaching and denitrification. The aim of this study was to develop a method for calculating these NLFs by using data from a random sample of commercial arable farms and dairy farms that were monitored in the 1991-2009 period. Only mean data per farm were available, which blocked a direct derivation of NLFs for unique combinations of crop type, soil type and natural soil drainage conditions. Results showed that N surplus leached almost completely from the root zone of arable land on the most vulnerable soils, that is, deep, welldrained sandy soils (95% confidence interval of NLF 0.80-0.99), while for grassland only half of the N surplus leached from the root zone of grassland (0.39-0.49). The NLF for grassland decreased with 0.015 units/year, which is postulated to be due to a decreased grazing and increased year-round housing of dairy cows. NLFs are positively correlated with precipitation surplus (0.05 units/100 mm for dairy farms and 0.10 units/100 mm for arable farms). Therefore, an increase in precipitation due to climate change may lead to an increase in leaching of nitrate.

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Integrated Assessment of Nitrogen Losses from Agriculture in EU‐27 using MITERRA‐EUROPE

Cited by 273 publications

References 62 publications

Assessment of uncertainties in greenhouse gas emission profiles of livestock sectors in Africa, Latin America and Europe

Assessment of uncertainties in greenhouse gas emission profiles of livestock sectors in Africa, Latin America and Europe

Management, regulation and environmental impacts of nitrogen fertilization in northwestern Europe under the Nitrates Directive; a benchmark study

Use of long-term monitoring data to derive a relationship between nitrogen surplus and nitrate leaching for grassland and arable land on well-drained sandy soils in the Netherlands

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