Can investments in manure technology reduce nutrient leakage to the Baltic Sea?

Abstract

In this study, quantitative models of the agricultural sector and nutrient transport and cycling are used to analyse the impacts in the Baltic Sea of replacing the current Greening measures of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy with a package of investments in manure handling. The investments aim at improving nutrient utilization and reducing nitrogen leaching, based on the assumption that lagging farms and regions can catch up with observed good practice. Our results indicate that such investments could reduce nitrogen surpluses in agriculture by 18% and nitrogen concentrations in the Baltic Sea by 1 to 9% depending on the basin. The Greening measures, in contrast, are found to actually increase nitrogen leaching.

Keywords

Baltic Sea; Common agricultural policy; Eutrophication; Modelling; Nitrogen

Published in

AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
2019, volume: 48, number: 11, pages: 1264-1277
Publisher: SPRINGER

SLU Authors

• Jansson, Torbjörn

  • Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Höglind, Lisa

  • Department of Economics, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use
Environmental Sciences related to Agriculture and Land-use

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-019-01251-5

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/102167