According to Teagasc, chemical fertiliser usage on Irish farms – grassland and tillage – continues to decline.
Recently published figures from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) have highlighted the progress Irish farmers have made in terms of reducing their nitrogen fertiliser usage.
Fertiliser sales in Ireland declined in 2023.
According to Teagasc, this has been achieved through a combination of changed practices at farm level and a reaction to higher fertiliser prices as a result of global unrest.
Driving all of this has been a greater uptake of soil sampling plus the tailoring of fertiliser plans based on soil and crop requirements.
Chemical fertiliser
Ireland’s Climate Action Plan 2023 sets a maximum chemical nitrogen (N) use target of 300,000t by 2030, which is a key greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction measure for agriculture to deliver a 25% reduction in carbon emissions.
DAFM figures for fertiliser sales in 2023 indicate that this target was achieved for the year, when 280,569t of chemical nitrogen nutrient were sold.
This represents a reduction of 18% on the quantities of chemical nitrogen nutrient sold in 2022, which were 343,193 tonnes.
Commenting on this reduction, Teagasc’s Mark Plunkett, said: “Chemical nitrogen use of 280,569t is well below the Climate Action Plan target of 300,000t by 2030.
“The 18% reduction of chemical nitrogen will feed into reducing the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions for 2023. Chemical nitrogen use is 31% lower in 2023 than the base year of 2018.
“This large reduction in chemical nitrogen shows that farmers are being strategic in their use of fertiliser on farm.
“This reduced nitrogen use is being underpinned by increased use of soil analysis, lime, cattle slurry, clover and multispecies swards on farm,” he added.
Source
Of the total nitrogen tonnage sold in 2023, DAFM figures show that 56% originated from straight nitrogen products (156,342 tonnes), whereas 44% was derived from compound fertilisers (124,227t).
In terms of the straight nitrogen fertiliser component, 29% was in the form of unprotected urea, 22% was protected urea and 49% was calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN).
The Climate Action Plan 2023 targets 90-100% uptake of protected urea on grassland farms by 2030.
Plunkett continued: “Protecting all the straight urea used by farmers would make a huge difference to meeting our national ammonia targets now and into the future.
“The use of protected urea nitrogen in compound fertiliser such as 29-0-14+ S increased from 547t in 2022 to 1,427t nitrogen in 2023.
“This gives a total tonnage of protected urea of 35,427t, which is a 15% increase in protected urea,” he added.
“Urea and protected urea now make up a combined 52% share of the straight nitrogen market and if all this was protected, farmers would be almost be 54-60% of the way towards the 2030 protected urea target.”