The impact of the Nitrates Directive on nitrogen emissions from agriculture in the EU-27 during 2000–2008

Velthof, G.L.; Lesschen, J.P.; Webb, J.; Pietrzak, S.; Miatkowski, Z.; Pinto, M.; Kros, J.; Oenema, O.

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.04.058

Cited by 168 publications

(114 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Nitrogen application rates differ considerably between regions, and regulations are in place to limit the input for example in nitrogen vulnerable zones or nature conservation areas [30].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability in the Water Footprint of Arable Crop Production across European Regions

Gobin

Kersebaum

Eitzinger

et al. 2017

Water

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Crop growth and yield are affected by water use during the season: the green water footprint (WF) accounts for rain water, the blue WF for irrigation and the grey WF for diluting agri-chemicals. We calibrated crop yield for FAO's water balance model "Aquacrop" at field level. We collected weather, soil and crop inputs for 45 locations for the period 1992-2012. Calibrated model runs were conducted for wheat, barley, grain maize, oilseed rape, potato and sugar beet. The WF of cereals could be up to 20 times larger than the WF of tuber and root crops; the largest share was attributed to the green WF. The green and blue WF compared favourably with global benchmark values (R 2 = 0.64-0.80; d = 0.91-0.95). The variability in the WF of arable crops across different regions in Europe is mainly due to variability in crop yield (cv = 45%) and to a lesser extent to variability in crop water use (cv = 21%). The WF variability between countries (cv = 14%) is lower than the variability between seasons (cv = 22%) and between crops (cv = 46%). Though modelled yields increased up to 50% under sprinkler irrigation, the water footprint still increased between 1% and 25%. Confronted with drainage and runoff, the grey WF tended to overestimate the contribution of nitrogen to the surface and groundwater. The results showed that the water footprint provides a measurable indicator that may support European water governance.

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“…Nitrogen application rates differ considerably between regions, and regulations are in place to limit the input for example in nitrogen vulnerable zones or nature conservation areas [30].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability in the Water Footprint of Arable Crop Production across European Regions

Gobin

Kersebaum

Eitzinger

et al. 2017

Water

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“…For example, fertilizer P input in Japan increased from 26 kg P/ha in 1961 to 63 kg P/ha in 2011, while in the Netherlands it decreased from 23 kg P/ha in 1961 to 8 kg P/ha in 2011. The latter is related to increased awareness of the fertilization value of animal manure and soil phosphorus, and to environmental regulations, which have increased the fertilizer N and P values of animal manures and have decreased the fertilizer N and P inputs into agriculture (Velthof et al 2014;Van Grinsven et al 2016).…”

Section: Agglomeration Of Livestock Production and Nutrient Balancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Though livestock production has responded to market demands largely unregulated (Steinfeld et al 2006;Steinfeld and Gerber 2010), governments do regulate livestock density, especially in the European Union through the implementation of for example the Nitrates Directive (Velthof et al 2014). Governmental regulations limit livestock density also in regions with very high livestock density in China ( Fig.…”

Section: Agglomeration Of Livestock Production and Nutrient Balancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interestingly, livestock density and limits to livestock density have as yet not been mentioned explicitly in the concept of 'careful livestock farming', suggesting that livestock density is not necessarily a main critical factor for careful livestock farming (Scholten et al 2013). Biophysical thresholds to livestock density may follow from the need to utilize manure nutrients effectively on the farm where they are produced; this would set the threshold at 1-2 LU/ha for productive systems in temperate climate, as regulations in the European Union and especially in Denmark (Velthof et al 2014;Asai et al 2014). Precision feeding, emission mitigation measures, and manure processing and transport may stretch this threshold, but increases in livestock densities are met with increasing societal resistance, especially beyond 4 LU/ha, as follows from the debate in The Netherlands (Scholten et al 2013) and the expulsion of livestock farms from some urban areas in China (Fig S4; Wei et al 2016).…”

Section: Agglomeration Of Livestock Production and Nutrient Balancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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International trade of animal feed: its relationships with livestock density and N and P balances at country level

Wang

Liu

Hou

et al. 2017

Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst

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International trade of food and feed has facilitated the specialization and agglomeration of agricultural production systems in many countries. Confined animals in specialized production systems are increasingly supplied with soybean and maize, imported from other countries. This has increased animal productivity but has also contributed to spatially decoupled crop and animal production systems. We analyzed the changes in the trade of soybean and maize at the global level in the period 1961-2011, and related these to the changes in livestock density and nutrient balances in the whole food system for 11 selected countries. Export of soybean and maize remained dominated by few countries (mainly USA, Argentina and Brazil) during the period 1961-2011, while the number of importing countries increased. Increases in the import of maize and soybean are positively related with changes in livestock density and N and P balances of national food systems. Imported soybean accounted for 12-36% of the calculated N balance at country level, and imported maize for 0-26%. There were large differences between importing countries; increases in the N surplus ranged from 75 to 306 kg N/ha and in the P surplus from 2 to 49 kg P/ha when the mean livestock density increased 1 LU/ha. This variation is related to differences in nutrient management regulations and to spatial variations in livestock density within countries. Our study contributes to the understanding of the complex relationships between the international trade of animal feed, livestock density and environmental impacts associated with N and P balances.

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“…However, the excessive use of N fertilisers in agricultural systems during the twentieth century has led to the widespread pollution of groundwater and surface water with nitrate (Strebel et al 1989;Stoate et al 2009). Since the mid-1980s, the agricultural use of N fertilisers has decreased in many countries of the European Union (EU) due to a combination of agricultural policies, such as the establishment of the milk quota in 1984 (Alliance Environment 2008), and environmental legislation, including the implementation of the Nitrates Directive in 1991 (Van Grinsven et al 2012;Velthof et al 2014). A decrease in N fertiliser use is also observed in the agricultural sector in the Netherlands (Baumann 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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The impact of the Nitrates Directive on nitrogen emissions from agriculture in the EU-27 during 2000–2008

Cited by 168 publications

References 21 publications

Variability in the Water Footprint of Arable Crop Production across European Regions

Variability in the Water Footprint of Arable Crop Production across European Regions

International trade of animal feed: its relationships with livestock density and N and P balances at country level

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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