Why is nutrient management important?

FWAG National Specialist Jo Oborn explains why completing a nutrient management plan is the key to maximising profits on your farm and reducing the risk of environmental damage.

A sufficient and balanced supply of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphate and potassium is essential to grow high yields of good quality crops and optimise livestock performance. The principle of nutrient management is to match the supply of nutrients with the nutrient requirement of a particular crop or group of animals. A nutrient management plan can therefore potentially indentify significant financial savings.

Progress to date
The Farm Practice Survey1 demonstrates that the industry has made some excellent progress in adopting better nutrient management practices. Of farmers responding to the survey in 2007- 47% had completed a nutrient management plan and encouragingly, of the farmers that applied manufactured nitrogen fertiliser to their land 62% sought professional advice before doing so while 36% used RB209 fertiliser recommendations to calculate the fertiliser requirement of their crops.

The English Catchment Sensitive Farming Delivery Initiative has helped farmers improve their management of nutrients and tackle the causes of water pollution. For example, Bob Marsden the Catchment Sensitive Farming Officer for the Peak District Dales Catchment offers farmers free soil and slurry analysis and assistance in completing a nutrient management plan. As a direct result many farmers in the catchment have realised that they can reduce the amount of manufactured fertiliser they apply without reducing yield. This has resulted in a significant financial saving for them each year as well as better quality silage and improved animal welfare.

A case for further action
As the price of manufactured fertilisers increases it is becoming increasingly important to manage nutrient applications more efficiently. If you have not completed a nutrient management plan it is worth considering that it could identify where you can address any unnecessary fertiliser applications and make significant financial savings.

Politically there are also long-term strategic benefits of better nutrient management. The Water Framework Directive (WFD) - the most substantial piece of European Commission water legislation to date - requires all inland and costal waters to reach a ‘good status' by 2015. Worryingly, it identifies nutrient pollution by agriculture as a significant environmental problem. Environmental standards and conditions including the classification of water bodies, objectives, measures and monitoring methods are currently being drawn up by Defra, Natural England and the Environment Agency. The threat of further regulations mean that it is vitally important that the industry comes together to provide leadership and find its own solutions before it is thought that further legislation is needed.

Planning the use of nutrients
There are many different nutrient management planning systems so it is important to select the one that suits you and your farm. PLANET and similar programs are comprehensive but don't suit everyone.

Tried and Tested is a paper based, simple yet comprehensive guide to whole farm nutrient management planning. Originally created in 2003 it has been thoroughly revised by an industry group (FWAG, LEAF, AIC, CLA and NFU) with the dairy and livestock sectors in mind. The advantage of using Tried and Tested over other  planning systems is that it will guide you through the process of creating a nutrient management plan - enabling you to manage manure and manufactured fertiliser applications more efficiently.

To help the industry group collect data to support its work, please complete the short survey on nutrient management available online at www.nfuonline.com/nmsurvey.xml - for your chance to win great prizes.

Case study

Thorney Abbey Farm, Nottinghamshire
FWAG members Andy and Sue Guy manage Thorney Abbey Farm - a 78 hectare specialist dairy farm near Southwell in Nottinghamshire. Home to a closed herd of 100 pedigree Holstein cows and 80 followers Thorney Abbey Farm produces 750,000 litres of milk each year which is sold through the co-operative Dairy Farmers of Britain.

Thorney Abbey Farm has employed Integrated Farm Management (IFM) for many years and in 2004 became a LEAF demonstration farm. IFM sees the integration of management practices which improves efficiency and thus production and profitability while maintaining high environmental standards.

Manure, collected while the herd is housed during the winter is separated by a weeping wall and spread according to the farms nutrient management plan. This efficient use of manure and 13 hectares of red clover reduces the demand for additional fertiliser - reducing costs and the risk of environmental damage. "I have calculated that the nutrient value of our manure and red clover is worth in excess of £100/ha when compared to the price of fertiliser" says Andy.

References
1 Farm Practice Survey 2007, Defra

NOTES - Use case study with the picture on page 13 top half place the following text under the case study

Tried and Tested will be available in the autumn however, if you would like more information please visit the Nutrient Management Centre at the Grassland and Muck event at Stoneleigh Park on 21-22 May.

To download a pdf version of this article, please click the link.

• Tried and Tested (PDF 206KB)