Fertilizer Use Drops to New Low as Fertiliser Price Increased
August 2009 Precision Farming Articles - Willington Crop Services
Fertiliser use by farmers in the UK has fallen to record lows following huge fertilizer price increases.
It is estimated that 75% of growers have stopped soil sampling and applying fertiliser across large areas of lands to save costs, and in some extreme cases the entire cropped area is left unfertilised according reports.
Such decision making could lead to low soil indices of phosphate (P) and potash (K) and such low nutrient levels in soils will be difficult to recover in future years and could lead to significant crop problems in the future.
Reports from companies doing much soil sampling throughout the UK have shown a rise in cropped area with nutrient deficiencies.
In the past year, low P soils have risen by nearly a quarter, while those with low K have leapt up by 60%.
These levels of nutrient deficiencies are the first sign that compound fertiliser applications are not keeping pace with the amounts of nutrients used by crops in growing .
And the most recent British Survey of Fertiliser Practice, from last year, showed that phosphate use has fallen by almost half since 1983.
Figures on fertiliser use published by Defra in May this year found significant drops in the amounts of fertiliser applied to land over the last 10 years, a 43% drop in amount of phosphate applied to crops and by 55% drop in phosphate applied to grassland.
In the same period, the application of nitrogen on grassland fell by more than half but remained virtually unchanged on cropped land.
Defra attributed these changes in fertiliser use to the rise in fertiliser prices from autumn 2007 – they had doubled by early 2008 – had some effect last year but were more likely to show through in the current cropping year.
An estimated 75% of growers have suspended fertiliser inputs across large tracts of lands rather than using a nutrient management plan to spread the cost of inputs at the same time as reducing risk of loss of indices.
