C 184/112
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
25.5.2023
3.12.
When it comes to fertilisers, the EESC is of the opinion that, while emergency actions should be undertaken immediately, longer term measures should also be implemented in order to optimise European agriculture's dependence on imported mineral fertilisers, while at the same time reducing the environmental footprint of crop fertilisation in Europe.
These should target (i) optimising overall fertiliser use through enhanced plant nutrient efficiency, leading to lower losses; (ii) partly substituting synthetic fertilisers with a higher use of recycled livestock manure and other waste from the food chain; (iii) improving Europe's self-sufficiency in fertiliser production.
The EESC underlines that agriculture is in transition and will continue, with agroecology, conservative agriculture, to get better.
3.13.
Enhancing plant nutrient efficiency is necessary in order to reduce fertiliser consumption as well as nutrient losses to water and air.
This should make it possible to decrease fertiliser use without affecting the production volume.
This can be achieved through enhanced fertilisation practices, including the use of cover crops, the choice of fertilisers (favouring nitrogen types such as nitrate based and the use of urease/nitrification inhibitors), the use of bio-stimulants as well as precision farming allowing optimised application (split application, balance sheet calculation, soil and plant analysis, plant sensors, decision support tools).
3.14.
Plant breeding is also key to nutrient efficiency, as improved varieties are capable of taking up less nutrients, especially nitrogen, for the same harvested quantity.
In this respect, the EESC believes that innovative technologies and seeds should be developed to always be able to provide solutions to farmers faced with restrictions on existing tools (8).
3.15.
Substituting nutrient demanding crops such as cereals, oilseed rape and sugar beet with plants with lower nutrient requirements such as sunflower (9) and legumes is a trend that farmers have naturally adopted since 2021-2022 (10).
However, this should be considered with caution in a public policy framework as, given the respective dry matter yields and protein contributions per hectare, such a move could disrupt agricultural markets and jeopardise food security.
3.16.
Partial substitution of mineral fertilisers by organic fertilisers recycled from livestock manure and other organic waste is also a relevant medium-term objective in the EU (11).
This will offer benefits for the soils (higher organic content) and the climate (lower emissions from synthetic nitrogen fertiliser manufacturing) as well as decrease import dependence.
However, the potential from livestock manure should not be overestimated, as most of it is already recycled, the available resources are geographically limited (regions with structural surplus for manure) and subject to significant mobilisation, processing and transportation costs.
Nutrients from human waste are mostly not spread on agricultural soils, even though these could contain two billion kilos of nitrogen (12).
The European Commission should also encourage the development of techniques for nutrient retrieval from algae and sewage sludge and safe agricultural application.
3.17.
As regards nitrogen fertilisers, promoting alternative, non-fossil pathways for ammonia production is a highly relevant long-term objective, as this would decrease the EU's gas dependency as well as its carbon footprint.
Renewable hydrogen produced by water electrolysis (itself from renewable electricity) is at a pilot industrial stage, while the methanation of agricultural by-products and organic waste can produce both biomethane for ammonia generation and a digestate usable as an organic fertiliser.
However, despite the current high market price for fossil-based ammonia, renewable alternatives are far from competitive and will require time, technology maturation and possibly significant public subsidies before reaching the industrial stage.
3.18.
The EESC welcomes the announcement of a new fertiliser market observatory, to be established in 2023, and the organisation of fertiliser stakeholder consultations in the framework of the expert group of the European Food Security and Crisis Mechanism (EFSCM).
The EESC also considers that any significant level of transparency in the EU fertiliser market can only be guaranteed by the regular publication of representative domestic market prices for a range of N, P and K fertilisers as well as the development of public statistics on fertiliser consumption.
(8) (9) (10) (11) (12)
OJ C 194, 12.5.2022, p. 72.
The area sown with sunflower in the EU has gained 750 000 ha while the cereal area has decreased by the same magnitude in 2022.
OJ C 75, 28.2.2023, p. 88.
https://www.eesc.europa.eu/en/our-work/opinions-information-reports/information-reports/benefits-extensive-livestock-farmingand-organic-fertilizers-context-european-green-deal-egd-ir-information-report It is estimated that one person excretes more than 4 kg of nitrogen via urine per year (Viskari et al., 2018 — https://www.frontiersin.
org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2018.00032/full).