Directorate E: Sectoral and regional statistics Unit E-1: Farms, agro-environment and rural development

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1 EUROPEAN COMMISSION EUROSTAT Directorate E: Sectoral and regional statistics Unit E-1: Farms, agro-environment and rural development Luxemburg, 12 December 2011 ESTAT/E1/ AMK/(2011) CPSA/AEI/105 WORKING GROUP "AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT" OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE FOR AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS TO BE HELD IN LUXEMBOURG, PLACE TO BE DECIDED ON 9 AND 10 FEBRUARY 2012, 9:30 A.M. CHAIRED BY: M. ERNENS POINT SETTING UP NATIONAL WORKGROUPS ON FERTILISER USE 1

2 Foreword DireDate and consultations with users have led to the identification of the data requirements relating to fertilisers. The data requirements have been discussed in the DireDate seminar and in previous Working Group meetings. For the discussion on fertiliser statistics it is useful to make a distinction between basic data requirements and detailed farm level data requirements. Basic data requirements are at least the minimum data requirements to estimate GNB and emissions identified by DireDate. Detailed farm level data on fertiliser and manure applications and management are needed to be able to assess farmer mitigation actions, show the effects of the greening of the CAP and to improve estimations at sub-national scales. They are therefore of high priority to the policy DG's. At the same time, Eurostat recognizes that at this stage it is too early to define a data collection system to meet these detailed data requirements. Such a data collection system is depending on i.a. the outcome of the discussions on the future FSS and FADN. Discussions on this issue will start with the TF meeting on Fertilisers on 8 February 2012 and will be followed up in future meetings. In this document we the focus is on establishing a solution for the basic data requirements in the short term (1-2 years). The aim of the discussion in the WG is: 1) To establish in each country a workgroup of experts responsible for estimating official figures for the data requirements defined in Table 1. 2) To establish a strategy to provide the data identified in Table 1. 3) To determine the first year to deliver the required data. Participants are asked to submit a paper on the issues raised in Chapter 4 before 25 January This paper should include the following sections: 1. The suggested composition of the national workgroup. 2. Discussion of available data sources, strengths and weaknesses, differences, proposal to come to single official figure. Countries which do not have data available are requested to propose first ideas on how to collect data on mineral fertiliser use. 3. A strategy to provide the data identified in Table 1. Participants may be asked to present the results in the WG meeting. Due to the limited time available, it will not be possible to give all participants the opportunity to present the results and their proposals in the meeting. We will reserve time for participating experts from 2 different countries to present the results at the meeting. Other participants have of course all the possibilities to present their plans during the discussion. Content 1 Data requirements Available data sources DireDate recommendations Questions to the Working Group meeting...6 2

3 1 Data requirements Table 1 Minimum annual data requirements on mineral fertilisers N mineral fertiliser use, tonnes of N, NUTS0 N mineral fertiliser use, tonnes of N, NUTS2 P mineral fertiliser use, tonnes of P, NUTS0 P mineral fertiliser use, tonnes of P, NUTS2 ammonium phosphate, urea, urea-ammonium nitrate solution (UAN) use, tonnes of N, NUTS0 ammonium phosphate, urea, urea-ammonium nitrate solution (UAN) spread on grassland, tonnes of N, NUTS0 ammonium phosphate, urea, urea-ammonium nitrate solution (UAN) spread on arable land and permanent crops, tonnes of N, NUTS0 ammonium phosphate, urea, urea-ammonium nitrate solution (UAN) spread on grassland, tonnes of N, climatic region (as defined for UNFCCC reporting) ammonium phosphate, urea, urea-ammonium nitrate solution (UAN) spread on arable land and permanent crops, tonnes of N, climatic region (as defined for UNFCCC reporting) Data on N and P mineral fertilizer use are needed for the AEI Gross Nitrogen and Phosphorus Balances at national level. To estimate the GNB at sub-national level, data on NP mineral fertilizer use is needed at least at NUTS2 level. (To further estimate the distribution of fertilisers and manure at sub-national scales and for the estimation of GNB at grid-level (1km 2 ) to allow aggregate data at other regional scales (River basins, NVZ etc), certain geo-referenced data are needed with regards to crop-specific application rates and techniques, livestock, land use and soil type. These issues will be discussed in the TF on Fertilisers 1 ). P mineral fertilizer use is also needed for the sub-indicator "Risk of P leaching". The data required for estimating GNB at sub-national level and downscaling to grid-level would improve this indicator as well. All countries must report data on the annual national consumption of total N-fertiliser in the reports for the GHG inventories of the UNFCCC. One of the components of the equation to estimate N 2 O emissions at Tier 1 following the IPCC Guidelines is the annual amount of synthetic fertiliser N applied to soils (kg N yr-1), which is estimated from the total amount of synthetic fertiliser consumed annually. The default IPCC method, as currently used by all European countries reporting to UNFCCC, does not distinguish between N fertilizer types. If sufficient data are available, fertiliser use may be disaggregated by fertiliser type, crop type and climatic regime for major crops. These data may be useful in developing revised emission estimates if inventory methods are improved in the future. In principle the total mineral fertilisers N applied to soils need to be taken into account to estimate the N2O emissions from soils. However, it is acknowledged that some data sources may be limited to agricultural use only. The N fertilisers unaccounted for are however likely to account only for a small proportion of the overall emissions. According to the guidelines countries can use data collected from official country statistics, often recorded as fertiliser sales and/or as domestic production 1 See the Background Document for the TF on Fertilisers 8 February

4 and imports, or, if country-specific data are not available, estimates from the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) on total fertiliser use by type and by crop, or from the FAO on synthetic fertiliser consumption. EU countries must also report data on the annual national consumption of total N-fertiliser under the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution. Information is required on the annual national consumption of total N-fertiliser to estimate NH 3 emissions at Tier 1 following the EEA/EMEP Guidebook. The Guidebook mentions the same data sources countries can use as the IPCC Guidelines, see the bullet point above. DireDate recommends estimating NH3 emissions at Tier 2 to report to the UNECE CLTRP and the National Emissions Ceiling Directive. This means that the data at national level requirements to be disaggregated into use of ammonium sulphate, ammonium nitrate, calcium ammonium nitrate, anhydrous ammonia, ammonium phosphate, urea, urea-ammonium nitrate solution (UAN), and other N fertilizers by climatic region and for major crops (arable land, grassland). In addition, if ammonium sulphate or diammonium phosphates are significant sources, then information will be needed on the amounts of those fertilisers applied to soils of < and > ph 7. If emissions would need to be estimated at regional scale, these data would also be needed at regional scale. The Nitrates Directive (ND) (91/676/EEC) requires annual data on N input to soils by synthetic and organic fertilisers and total use of synthetic and organic fertilisers. For the Nitrates Directive the amount of N fertilizer used in nitrate vulnerable zones is needed as well. Data on fertiliser and manure application rates would provide information needed to evaluate crop-specific fertiliser limits established by the Nitrates Directive. WFD and RDP reporting require data on fertiliser consumption indirectly for the indicator GNB. The data requirements expressed above would also benefit the calculation of AEI 5, Consumption of Mineral Fertilisers. 2 Available data sources In a previous WG meeting an overview of available data sources on fertiliser consumption was presented, (see document CPSA/AE/094 and CPSA/AE/097): Some Member States provided data in the nutrient balances and the AEI questionnaire (based on various sources like production/trade statistics, farmer surveys, sales statistics). In some MS data on fertiliser use is collected for administrative purposes. Problems encountered with administrative records include: The records not always cover a representative sample of the population, problems with matching records to FSS, quality of data etc. Fertilizers Europe (formerly European Fertilizer Manufacturers Association, EFMA) provides harmonised estimations on inorganic fertilizers consumption per crop and per country with a crop based/expert based approach: - A 10 years European scenario is built taking into account long term prospects of USDA, FAPRI, OECD, and EU Commission, discussions with DG AGRI experts and internal Fertilizers Europe's expertise. - Based on the European scenario, a national scenario is carried out by each forecaster. Fertilizers Europe has specialist forecasters in almost every MS. 4

5 - The national forecast is then assessed on a crop by crop and nutrient by nutrient basis. - Every year in each country the evaluation of nutrient consumption per crop is crosschecked with actual sales for year n, n-1 and n-2. The time series estimates of Fertilizers Europe have been used by IIASA as fertilizer projections in their GAINS model as well as in the framework of other activities (e.g., European Nitrogen Assessment). A presentation of Fertilizers Europe's data collection methodology is available at Circa. FAO estimates use of mineral fertilizers from data on production and trade corrected by non-agricultural use. Data are requested from MS disaggregated by the main types of fertilizers. The estimation of apparent consumption from the questionnaires is complicated due to following reasons: 1. Non-response. 2. Missing data due to confidentiality. 3. Missing data on non-fertiliser use. 4. Double counting of further processed products. A presentation of FAO statistics methodology is available at Circa. Data on trade and production of fertilisers by type is in principle available in trade (COMEXT) and production (PRODCOM) statistics. However, due to confidentiality issues, estimates of apparent fertiliser consumption from PRODCOM and COMEXT cannot be published for many countries. The main reason is the fact that there are very few producers in the industry. Methodological problems also complicate the estimation of apparent consumption from data in PRODCOM and COMEXT (Due to confidentiality issues, data are often reported in a very general classification which makes linkage with COMEXT or translation into nutrient contents difficult. Fertilisers which are sold to another fertiliser company may be further processed which leads to double counting. Fertilisers sold may be used for other intentions than agricultural production, e.g. fertilisation of green parks, and explosives manufacturing). Expert advice is therefore needed to correct data on trade and production for non-fertiliser use, further processing etc. Due to the confidentiality issues the data available in PRODCOM and COMEXT can, however, not be easily shared with the experts. FADN: A final decision on including NPK mineral fertiliser use in FADN has not been taken. In some countries farmers are obligated to keep records on nutrient use. These data are however not always collected from the farms. Exploring the recording requirements on nutrient use could facilitate the design of a farmer survey. Currently official statistics on mineral fertiliser use as specified in Table 1 are not available in most countries. 3 DireDate recommendations DireDate recommends obtaining the use of mineral fertilisers by: a) National consumption statistics: Improve national fertilizer consumption statistics (cooperation MS, Eurostat, Fertilizers Europe and (national) fertilizer trading associations. MS need to indicate the uncertainties and difficulties in obtaining data on fertilizer use in their country. Eurostat and FAO make a synthesis of the problems related to collecting data of fertilizer consumption, and discuss with Fertilizers Europe. 5

6 b) Disaggregation procedures and c) Expert judgements: MS should establish a WG of experts to derive a methodology to disaggregate national fertilizer consumption data to crop-specific data at regional scale (NUTS-2). In the MITERRA-EUROPE-project, the national use of mineral N fertilizer is distributed over crops on country level using weighing factors. The weighing factors were calculated from the N demand of the crop (= N in harvested products + N in crop residues) and the total area of the crop. Moreover, the total manure N use on crops is estimated in MITERRA-EUROPE using expert judgement. d) Targeted farm level surveys: Set up of targeted surveys to validate and improve the methodology of deriving crop-specific and regional-specific N and P fertilizer use data on the basis of the disaggregation of national fertilizer consumption statistics. The set-up of these surveys is dependent on the results of the developed disaggregation procedure. It is recommended that National Statistical Institutes (NSI's) will carry out these surveys and process the data. However, the validation of the methodology and improvement of the estimates should be carried out by scientists involved in the development of the methodology. Eurostat comments DireDate recommends deriving a methodology to disaggregate national fertilizer consumption data to crop-specific data at regional scale (NUTS-2). In the short term (2/3 years) this methodology could be based e.g. on data of MS on crop-application-rates, or data on crop-application rates of Fertilisers Europe or an approach similar to the approach used in MITERRA-EUROPE-project. In the medium/long term (3-10 years) it is recommended to set up of targeted surveys to validate and improve the methodology of deriving crop-specific and regional-specific N and P fertilizer use data on the basis of the disaggregation of national fertilizer consumption statistics. This meeting focuses on designing and implementing a solution to derive fertiliser statistics at NUTS2 level in the short term. 4 Questions to the Working Group meeting The objective of Eurostat is to set up a data collection system to fulfil the data requirements as identified in Table 1. Following the recommendations made by DireDate, Eurostat suggests that a workgroup is organised in each country (by the NSI's and other stakeholders), to ensure a single figure to be used for official reporting requirements and to include expert knowledge. It is therefore recommended that the workgroups should include the statisticians responsible for the different data sources as well as fertiliser experts such as agronomists, experts from farm advisory services and the fertilizer industry, country forecaster of Fertilizers Europe, and other relevant stakeholders. These workgroups should discuss: a) Available data sources on mineral fertiliser consumption (see Table 1), or the lack of such. To reduce administrative burden and double data collection, the principle of using existing data applies. Countries are therefore asked to explore the available data sources, what is the reference period, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the different available data sources, what are the differences and how could the data be improved. b) A procedure to estimate the required data identified in Table 1: 6

7 Countries are requested to propose a strategy to provide the data on mineral fertiliser use defined in Table 1 in the short term. Disaggregation to NUTS2 level can be achieved in the short term by e.g. data of MS on crop-application-rates, data on crop-application rates of Fertilisers Europe or an approach similar to the approach used in MITERRA-EUROPEproject. In the long term the estimations could be improved by implementing a targeted survey at farm level as proposed by DireDate. In order to improve the trend analyses in all domains relying on fertiliser statistics, countries are also requested to make efforts in calculating time series back to Countries are expected to transmit the data identified in Table 1 to Eurostat by the end of These data should then be also used in other data transmissions where fertiliser statistics are reported: UNFCCC, CLTRAP, NVZ, WD, OECD, FAO, etc., to ensure that there is a full coherence between different datasets. 7