Crops, Applications, and Regulations On Nitrogen Use In Europe.

In Europe the major cereal crop is Winter Wheat ( 46% or approximately 24 million hectares of the total cereal area). Within the EU the major producers are France, Germany and the UK which yield on average 7 tonnes per hectare. For comparison purposes the USA produces around 22 million hectares at an average yield of 2.8 tonnes per ha. This crop is generally managed at very high level of agronomy and, with a full program of nutrition, fungicides and growth regulators, average whole farm yields of over 10 tonnes per hectare are common. However the genetic potential of current varieties has been shown to be around 18 tonnes per hectare and spot yields in highly productive areas of fields reach that figure regularly. Nitrogen applications in these intensively managed crops are usually split into 3 separate applications which are applied at different growth stages to manage crop development and crop canopy into the optimum for producing a high yield. Research projects have demonstrated the optimum crop canopy for each growth stage and active sensors are being used during nitrogen application to manage the size of the canopy and tiller numbers towards these targets. This canopy manipulation generally increases yield by around 3% and also significantly reduces crop lodging and variability. Research projects in the UK demonstrated that variably applied nitrogen also increased nitrogen use efficiency and lowered N leaching. This is especially important in Europe as nitrogen applications are limited by law in many areas. The Nitrates Directive sets strict limits on the amount of organic and inorganic nitrogen that can be applied to crops in Nitrate Vulnerable Zones. This has resulted in a 15% drop in nitrogen applications and in many crops nitrogen is now the main limiting factor. In these crops the use of active sensors to apply only what each area of the crop needs can have a very beneficial effect in both yield and nitrogen leaching. The political and environmental pressure to reduce nitrogen pollution is set to dramatically increase after the April 2011 publication of the “European Nitrogen Assessment” (http://www.nine-esf.org/ENA-Book) which reports the cost of nitrogen pollution in the EU of up to $1070 per person per year. This will hasten the move to variable applications of nitrogen in a bid to reduce nitrogen losses to the environment and increase the nitrogen use efficiency in nitrogen limited crops.