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

Abstract

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.

50 year trends in nitrogen use efficiency of world cropping systems: the relationship between yield and nitrogen input to cropland

“…The case of the Netherlands is the most spectacular, as in this country, which has always used very high rates of fertilization, the level applied in recent years has been reduced to the same as in the 1960s with, however, doubled yields. This trend is related to the reduction of N inputs prescribed by European environmental policies and regulations (van Grinsven et al 2012), which interestingly did not prevent significant yield increases thanks to a better N management. Note, however, that despite the increase of NUE and decrease in N surpluses, the nitrogen surplus emitted to the environment in many cases remains much higher than that of other countries belonging to types I and II.…”

Towards protecting the Great Barrier Reef from land‐based pollution

“…Each action plan was underpinned by a variety of descriptive, and sometimes quantitative, policy measures, such as (i) nitrogen fertilizer application to crops at 90% of economic optimum and (ii) retirement and decrease in arable land (Windolf et al, 2012). More generally across Europe, the European Union Nitrates Directive is the main regulation to reduce the environmental impacts of diffuse source pollution from agricultural land uses (Van Grinsven et al, 2012). Implementation of the Directive since 1995 has contributed to reductions in (i) nitrate concentrations in fresh surface waters in north-west Europe (Van Grinsven et al, 2012), and (ii) nitrogen and phosphorus river loads delivered to the North Sea (Grizzetti et al, 2012).…”

Policies for agricultural nitrogen management—trends, challenges and prospects for improved efficiency in Denmark

“…Denmark is here taken as an example of how concerns for agricultural production can be balanced against environmental protection concerns. It is one of the most intensively farmed regions in the world, where more than 60% of its land surface is used for agriculture, it has a food export that is more than twice the national consumption (FAO 2014), and has one of the most well-developed environmental regulation systems in the world (van Grinsven et al 2012).…”