From Fear To Understanding: Environmental Regulations are Enabling Regenerative Agriculture

Summary: We are usually hesitant to change a running system when we lack insight, particularly in a conservative industry like agriculture. As a result, agriculture typically does not welcome new environmental regulations, but proper insight may change that attitude.

Based on our research, we proposed a few years ago that German farmers could reduce their fertilization rate by 20% without sacrificing any yield, which is precisely the goal of the German Fertilization Regulation. In 2022, German farmers were forced to lower their fertilizer rate by around 23% due to higher fertilizer prices and regulatory pressure. However, farmers are already reporting somewhat higher-than-average yields (with satisfying protein content) for their winter wheat harvest, which is consistent with JRC's recent forecast (Germany wheat yield 7.37 t/ha). This means that Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) has increased to more than 85%, up from less than 70% a few years ago. That is a wonderful news.

What has changed between now and then, we asked the farmers? They reported that using precision farming techniques, better crop rotation (e.g., peas before wheat), focusing on soil health (for improved water retention capacity), and considering high NUE crop varieties, among other things, helped them reduce their fertilizer input - Aren't these regenerative farming concepts?

Full article: By using regenerative agricultural techniques and data-driven agricultural decisions, farmers may adapt to the new environmental policy regulations (Düngeverordnung). To show why we believe this assumption is correct, let's use a 20-year history of nitrogen usage in wheat in Germany as an example. We'll analyze how improved technology and new regulations have altered N input usage and its impact on yield (which is often what farmers focus on). This will enable us to look forward and provide us with suggestions on how to develop and transform agribusiness over the coming years.

Crop-specific fertilizer application rates vary from country to country, and it takes a lot of time and works to collect, analyze, and evaluate them. There are, however, two thorough publications. The International Fertilizer Association (IFA) came up with the most recent one in 2022. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) produced the first one in 2005. According to the FAO publication, Germany's fertilization rate for wheat in 2000 was 165 N kg/ha, higher than the global average of 110 N kg/ha. According to IFA, 150 kg/ha of nitrogen (N) was used as fertilizer on wheat in 2018, which is approximately 9% less than what was used 20 years ago. Even though these numbers are questionable, they still show that Germany's total fertilization rate is going down, which is in line with official German data (about 11%).

We worked with about 60 German farmers on a European Space Agency (ESA) project. The FAO/IFA fertilizer rate estimates are lower than we have seen throughout our five-year experimental study. According to our research, German farmers used around 220 N kg/ha in 2000 to achieve the best yield and protein content. However, in 2010, they only used about 195 N kg/ha, an 11% drop. This decrease was driven mainly by the introduction of technology, including portable sensors and soil testing to decide the fertilization rate. After 2017, the fertilization rate started to fall again due to the introduction of German fertilization regulations. During this time, farmers began to make better decisions about fertilization by considering the mineral N reserve in the soil (Nmin), pre-crop N credit, and investments in better fertilizer spreader equipment, field sensors, etc.

Figure: This figure shows our fertilizer recommendation for Germany in 2022, which is about 149 kg/ha (Average)

For wheat, the fertilization rates in 2020 were around 165 N kg/ha. Because of the current high fertilizer price, fertilization rates will drop dramatically in 2022. The wheat crop had an average fertilization rate of 150 N kg/ha in 2022, a drop of nearly 30% from 2000 – it's big. However, farmers are already reporting somewhat higher-than-average yields (with satisfying protein content) for their winter wheat harvest, which is consistent with JRC's recent forecast (Germany's average wheat yield is 7.37 t/ha). This means an optimal reduction of fertilization will not compromise yield. According to German government fertilization balance estimations, there is still around 80 N kg/ha of balance, compared to approximately 120 N kg/ha two decades ago. As a result, the reduction is still within acceptable limits and should not affect yield. This already indicates that the 2017 fertilizer regulation was a sound plan, and farmers need not be worried.  

 We reviewed the concepts above with a few farmers, and they mostly agree (although not all of them) and recognize that the German Fertilization Regulation is not as terrible as it appeared in 2017.  After further research with farmers, we discovered that few farming techniques are changing fast. For instance, as a result of the fertilizer regulation, farmers are now using less nitrogen fertilizer rate (by taking into account Nmin, pre-crop N credit, etc.). To offset the lower application rate, farmers are also implementing better crop rotations (e.g., planting peas before wheat results in a lower wheat fertilizer rate) and cover crops (catch crops) to minimize nitrogen loss. However, due to the added expense and the relatively short time between seasons, farmers still do not use cover crops widely. The farmers have also begun to give soil health more attention by focusing on methods to increase soil organic carbon, which will enable their land to hold onto more water during dry periods. Most farmers are now talking about precision farming, and some have already started implementing it due to the observed strong correlation between yield and soil (rather than N input). Therefore, using more on good soil/fields and less on bad makes total sense. Do all these sound familiar to you?  aren't these concepts of regenerative farming? Hey, regenerative agriculture is already here. 

Environmental regulations are not always bad as long as they are supported by reliable data and are tailored to the needs of particular farms and regions. This shouldn't be a one-size-fits-all type of thing. For instance, some German farmers complained that a region-specific fertilization policy prevents them from using their fields to their maximum potential, and we also agree that such a general or regional strategy has to be changed since we need to take advantage of every chance we have to guarantee food security for everyone. You may learn more about how to manage such concerns here. Now, how can you find facts backed by data? Do we need costly field experiments – Not necessarily. To investigate the impact of a certain factor on yield, we can look at individual years. For Germany, 2017 is an excellent year to examine yield potential, 2018–19 is a crucial year to examine soil–water–crop interactions, 2022 is a pivotal year to examine the effects of reduced fertilizer usage, etc. Making judgments based on data is the key to success. Furthermore, lack of understanding always makes us hesitant to change a running system, particularly in a conservative sector like agriculture. We thus believe that this post will provide all of us with more confidence to make positive changes to farming.