Reducing the nitrogen load to the Baltic Sea by increasing the efficiency of recycling within the agricultural system - Experience of ecological agriculture in Sweden and Finland

Agreements to halve the quantities of nutrients reaching the marine environ ment by 1995 were entered into within the Helsinki Commission (base year 19 87) and at the North Sea Conference/Paris Commission (base year 1985). This goal has not been achieved. Agriculture has contributed substantially to a n increase in nutrient leaching. Studies of plant nutrient flows and balanc es at the farm level (different types of farms), county level and country l evel were made in Sweden for the years 1990 and 1995 and, to some extent, i n Finland to explain the high losses of plant nutrients in agriculture toda y, and to describe how, with the technological resources available today pl ant nutrients could be handled more effectively and thereby minimizing loss es of nitrogen and phosphorus to the environment. The results of the studie s indicate that the local and regional specialization of farms is one impor tant reason for the high losses of plant nutrients that are occurring: one type of farm specializes in crop production based on the use of artificial fertilizers, while another specializes in livestock production with large i nputs of purchased fodder and a surplus of nutrients in the form of animal manure. The arable farm mainly produces fodder. This fodder and the nutrien ts it contains are exported to the intensive livestock farms, where a surpl us of manure and urine, and hence of nutrients, accumulates, causing nutrie nt losses to the environment. By integrating crop and animal production on a farm or farms in closed cooperation it is possible to maximize the effici ent use of nutrients in manure, minimize inputs of nutrients, minimize nutr ient surpluses and, as a consequence, minimize losses of nitrogen and phosp horus. By applying these agricultural principles throughout the Baltic regi on it should be possible to halve nitrogen losses and minimize losses of ph osphorus, thereby meeting the goals set by the states of the region.