Provision of an individual advisory service concerning plant nutrition and
use of manure is an effective way to minimise nitrogen and phosphorus leach
ing. STANK is a planning computer program developed primarily as a means to
achieve a good management of manure, but it can also be used on farms whic
h do not apply manure and. on farms growing field vegetables. Use of STANK
in the advisory service for vegetable growers has shown that the program wo
rks well for these crops.
Nutrient balances were calculated both for individual crops and for whole f
arms. The results show considerable variation among the farms with respect
to their utilization of supplied nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.