Agricultural Scenariosto Reduce the National Phosphorus Surplus in the Netherlands
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Agricultural scenariosto reduce the national phosphorus surplus in the Netherlands A.J. de Buck1, W. van Dijk1, J.C. van Middelkoop2, A.L. Smit3, H. van Reuler1 and A. Evers2 Praktijkonderzoek Plant & Omgeving, onderdeel van Wageningen UR Business Unit Akkerbouw, Groene Ruimte en Vollegrondsgroenten PPO nr. 466 July 2012 Agricultural scenarios to reduce the national phosphorus surplus in the Netherlands A.J. de Buck1, W. van Dijk1, J.C. van Middelkoop2, A.L. Smit3, H. van Reuler1 and A. Evers2 In dit vlak wordt door de drukker de foto(’s) geplaatst 1 Applied Plant Research 2 Livestock Research 3 Plant Research International Praktijkonderzoek Plant & Omgeving (Applied Plant Research), part of Wageningen UR Business Unit AGV PPO no. 466 July 2012 © 2012 Wageningen, Foundation Stichting Dienst Landbouwkundig Onderzoek (DLO) research institute Praktijkonderzoek Plant & Omgeving. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the DLO, Praktijkonderzoek Plant & Omgeving (Applied Plant Research), Business Unit AGV. The Foundation DLO is not responsible for any damage caused by using the content of this report. PPO Publication no. 466 This project is funded by: Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation Project no. 32 501161 11 Applied Plant Research (Praktijkonderzoek Plant & Omgeving), part of Wageningen UR Business Unit AGV Address : P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands : Wageningen Campus, Droevendaalsesteeg 1, Wageningen, The Netherlands Tel. : +31 320 29 11 11 Fax : +31 317 41 80 94 E-mail : [email protected] Internet : www.ppo.wur.nl © Praktijkonderzoek Plant & Omgeving 2 Table of contents page SUMMARY .............................................................................................................................. 5 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................ 9 2 PHOSPHORUS FLOWS IN 2005 AND 2008 ....................................................................... 11 2.1 National balance ..................................................................................................... 11 2.2 Arable land ............................................................................................................. 13 2.3 Grassland and maize ............................................................................................... 13 2.4 Grazing livestock ..................................................................................................... 14 2.5 Intensive livestock ................................................................................................... 14 2.6 Industry .................................................................................................................. 15 2.7 Households ............................................................................................................ 16 2.8 Waste and waste industry ........................................................................................ 16 3 SCENARIOS ................................................................................................................... 19 3.1 Application standards 2013/15 ................................................................................ 19 3.1.1 Goal ................................................................................................................ 19 3.1.2 Description ...................................................................................................... 19 3.1.3 Changes in phosphorus flows ............................................................................ 21 3.2 Mining .................................................................................................................... 24 3.2.1 Goal ................................................................................................................ 24 3.2.2 Description ...................................................................................................... 24 3.2.3 Changes in phosphorus-flows ............................................................................ 25 3.3 Decrease phosphorus excretion livestock ................................................................. 27 3.3.1 Goal ................................................................................................................ 27 3.3.2 Description ...................................................................................................... 27 3.3.3 Changes in phosphorus flows ............................................................................ 29 4 DISCUSSION .................................................................................................................. 33 5 CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................. 37 REFERENCES ....................................................................................................................... 39 GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................... 41 APPENDIX ............................................................................................................................ 43 © Praktijkonderzoek Plant & Omgeving 3 © Praktijkonderzoek Plant & Omgeving 4 Summary The national phosphorus balance can be made more sustainable by reducing the accumulation of phosphorus in agricultural soils and by increasing recycling from waste streams. In this study we investigated different scenarios for reduction of the national soil surplus on agricultural land. The focus was on scenarios that will not compel agriculture in the Netherlands to change radically e.g. reduction of phosphorus fertilisation levels and reducing animal phosphorus excretion by improving feeding efficiency while maintaining national milk and meat production levels. The national phosphorus flows in 2008 were taken as the reference situation. For this purpose the earlier assessed flow scheme of 2005 was updated. The 2008 flow scheme includes the initial years after introduction of new mineral legislation in 2006 that is based on maximum allowed application standards for nitrogen and phosphorus instead of maximum allowed surpluses (Minas). Differences phosphorus flows 2005 and 2008. The national phosphorus surplus in 2008 decreased by 9 Mkg P in comparison to 2005 (values for 2005 and 2008 were 60 and 51 Mkg P, respectively) (Table S1). This was mainly due to a reduction in use of mineral fertilisers (9 Mkg P), an increased manure export (6 Mkg P) alongside a net import increase of the industry (6 Mkg P). The latter was due to an increase in feed phosphorus import while the net food phosphorus import decreased. The decrease in the use of mineral phosphorus fertilisers will probably be due to the change in legislation in 2006 as from that year mineral phosphorus fertilisers were included. The phosphorus surplus is accumulated on agricultural land, sequestered in waste and leached to ground and surface water. Phosphorus accumulation on agricultural land decreased by 12 Mkg P (values for 2005 and 2008 were 31 and 19 Mkg P, respectively). This reduction was mainly on grassland and maize fields. The phosphorus sequestered in waste increased by 3 Mkg P (values for 2005 and 2008 were 21 and 25 Mkg P, respectively). The amount of phosphorus leaching to ground and surface water decreased slightly mainly due to cleaner effluent from wastewater treatment plants (values for 2005 and 2008 were 7 and 6 Mkg P, respectively). Table S1. National phosphorus budget in 2005 and 2006 in the Netherlands (Mkg P/a). Subsystem Products 2005 2008 Import Agriculture Fertiliser 21.0 12.0 Living animals1 0.2 0.2 Industry Feed 50.4 60.1 Food 28.0 31.1 Non-food 1.4 3.3 Feed additives 7.2 8.1 Total import 108.2 114.8 Export Agriculture Manure 7.0 12.8 Industry Food 37.5 47.6 Non-Food 1.3 1.2 Waste Waste 2.7 2.0 Total export 48.5 63.6 Surplus 59.7 51.2 1 veal production © Praktijkonderzoek Plant & Omgeving 5 Scenarios to reduce the national phosphorus surplus Phosphorus Application standards 2013 en 2015 The legislation with regard to the Nitrate Directive (fourth and fifth Nitrate Action Program) contains application standards for nitrogen and phosphorus. The application standard gives the maximum allowed fertilisation level with manure and mineral fertilisers. Reduction of the phosphorus application standards to guideline levels for 2013 and 2015 will decrease the phosphorus surplus on agricultural land from 22 Mkg P in 2008 to 13 Mkg P in 2013 and 10 Mkg P in 2015 (Table S2). For grassland and maize these surpluses are 8 (2013) and 7 Mkg P (2015), for arable land 5 (2013) and 3 Mkg P (2015). In the calculations it is assumed that for 2013 and 2015 fertilisation levels equal the application standards. The decrease of the application standards increases the manure surplus. This is the amount of manure phosphorus that cannot be applied on agricultural land. Besides the application standards, the manure surplus also depends on the acceptance grade of manure. The acceptance grade is defined as the percentage of the phosphorus application standard that is used for manure phosphorus. On grassland and maize and on arable land on sandy soils it is expected that manure acceptance will become 100% as