The Flemish Minister of Agriculture Hilde Crevits and the Dutch Minister of Agriculture Henk Staghouwer argued at the European Council of Agriculture Ministers last Monday in favour of allowing “green fertiliser” as a substitute for fertiliser. This could offer a solution for the high fertilizer prices.
According to the European Nitrates Directive, no more than 170 kg of animal nitrogen per hectare per year may be applied to the field. These rules also restrict, for example, digestate or nitrogen recovered from animal manure. By recognising RENURE(*) fertilisers as artificial fertilisers, farmers could save a lot on artificial fertilisers. It would also reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian fertiliser and cut gas consumption remarkably.
The use of artificial fertilisers formed from animal manure also fits in with the Europe Farm-to-Fork strategy, in which reduced use of artificial fertilisers is enshrined. About 10 member states joined the appeal of ministers Crevits and Staghouwer. The European Commission reacted positively and is looking into which bottlenecks need to be cleared to make this possible in practice.
(*)RENURE stands for “Recovered Nitrogen from Manure”.
