A European Union (EU)-funded project has developed a toolbox to help farmers manage nitrogen so it goes to plants rather than the leaching in the form of nitrates into groundwater and other water sources.
The project, N-Toolbox, compiled a number of cost-effective strategies to protect water from nitrate pollution. Organised in an easily accessible format, it allows farmers to choose the subset of strategies most suited to their particular situation.
N-Toolbox covers every farming situation where nitrogen plays a role, including manure storage and handling; livestock management; pasture management; strategies for irrigated land; drainage and wastewater management.
The N-Toolbox project team analysed scientific literature for the best advice possible on preventing nitrogen loss in agriculture. Project coordinator Julia Cooper, from the Nafferton Ecological Farming Group (NEFG), at Newcastle University commented:
“It is about identifying the best strategies for each farmer. We’re bringing together research on nitrates from the past 20 years and making it useful for farmers.
Along with the project partners - the Louis Bolk Institute in the Netherlands, the Polytechnical University of Madrid, and the University of Aarhus in Denmark – Cooper worked on the ground with farmers to test out new strategies. “There is no magic bullet that will solve the problem of nitrogen losses to water from agriculture,” Julia Cooper added. “In reality a network of partial solutions is required, that when applied together, can significantly reduce these losses.”
The main output was a comprehensive catalogue of farm level ideas to reduce nitrogen losses. The dynamic catalogue is accessible online and lists 39 strategies within eight different categories, with the win-win methods that both reduce nitrogen losses to water and save money ranked highest.
The other major result was the development of a software tool, NDICEA, which can be used at the farm level to illustrate options for improved nitrogen management. The software package, designed to help decision-making, takes account of geography and includes environmental files with weather and soil data from England, Spain and Denmark.
Farmers using N-Toolbox should be in a stronger position to adapt their nitrogen strategies by increasing their understanding of the causes and control of nitrate loss into the environment.
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