Environmental regulation of agriculture changes tack

There were lots of packages during Christmastime. Most of them were gifts that were placed under the Christmas tree but there was also a new food and agricultural package. Whether this package will be a gift or not remains to be seen but apart from affecting agriculture and the environment the new agricultural package will also have an impact on the Department of Agroecology in the form of more policy support tasks and new research projects.

Several aspects of the new agricultural package will be discussed at the Crop Congress (Plantekongressen) in Herning 20-21 January 2016 where Erik Steen Kristensen will give a talk on the environmental consequences of the package.

Targeted and differentiated environmental regulation

The new agricultural package implies that the nitrogen norm reduction will be phased out which in the short term will mean an increased impact on the environment. In the long term the environmental regulation of agriculture will however be more targeted and based on an evaluation of the local needs for measures. By the end of 2021 the targeted environmental regulation will have contributed a reduction of nitrogen emission amounting to 3,800 tons.

Regulations comprise four principles:

1. Leaching access will be differentiated geographically in accordance with the goals for the nitrogen conditions in the individual coastal aquatic environments. When calculating the leaching access consideration will be taken to the land’s robustness (retention).

2. The individual farm will be allotted an access to leaching to the aquatic environment, calculated as the maximum kg nitrogen permitted to be leached per ha.

3. The individual farm must be given flexibility with regard to how to comply with the leaching access.

4. A compensation scheme must be established which compensates farms for expenses related to the reduced rights to leach in accordance with the targeted regulation.

Measurement of nitrogen from land to water

Nitrogen can find its way to the aquatic environment via many routes. The amount of nitrogen that is actually lost to the aquatic environment varies significantly from location to location depending on the ability of the land to turn over or retain the nitrogen. A priority in the new agricultural package is therefore to create new knowledge about the impact and routes of nitrogen on its way from the land to the aquatic environment.  

This will take place by, among things, expanding the measurements significantly. One of the measures will be to supplement the new measurements with 100 additional measuring stations and 1,200 extra measurements. Another important measure will be to take measurements upstream in the river system in order to get a better idea of where the source to the nitrogen pollution actually is.

In addition, funds will be earmarked in our policy support contract with the Ministry of Food and the Environment to gain more knowledge about drain measurements, more efficient placement of measures, and nitrogen turnover on land types of which we have poor knowledge, such as lowlands.

Good possibilities for collaboration with the industry

There are also good opportunities for initiating new research projects in this area in that DKK 161 mill. have been set aside from the national research reserve for research in resource efficient and sustainable food production via Innovation Fund Denmark.  

- There are interesting possibilities for including and collaborating with farmers with regard to the new nitrogen measurements. This, in combination with the fact that more than DKK 160 mill. will be set aside for research in food, agriculture and targeted regulation, means that I can see great opportunities for Aarhus University and others, e.g. SEGES, collaborating on large projects, in which we also include farmers, says Erik Steen Kristensen.

Read more about the agricultural package (in Danish) here.