Global trends and challenges in nutrient management

Transcription

1 Global trends and challenges in nutrient management Oene Oenema Wageningen University

2 Outline Nutrient management Historic perspective Global trends Global challenges

3 1. Nutrient management: coherent set of activities related to the allocation and handling of nutrient resources and flows.... to achieve agronomic and societal objectives

4 Management: cyclic process of activities 2. Decision making 1. Analysis 3. Planning Achieving objectives 6. Evaluation 4. Execution 5. Monitoring

5 Nutrient management at farm level

6 Nutrient management in the food chain In development: - Food production - Food processing - Food consumption - Waste handling are still managed separately

7 Nutrient management at regional & global levels In development; main arguments: Regions, continents are different; Trans-boundary pollution, and trade of products Targets more easily achieved; effects-based approaches Examples: Catchment & water basin management (WFD, HELCOM, etc Gothenburg Protocol for air emissions Global nutrient management platform (UNEP)

8 Experiences so far Importance increases Theory more easy than practice Learning by doing, doing by learning Learning time, demonstration & advice important Many possibilities for improving nutrient management Debate about voluntary vs mandatory measures Prescriptive measures vs self-governance Incentives needed, but no bureaucracy

9 2. Historic perspective Nutrients cycle for billions of years, but we did not know until recently

10 In search for the secrets of nutrients >2000 yr: Use of plant growth promoting substances 1840: Mineral element theory (Justus von Liebig) 1910: Haber-Bosch process: synthetic N fertilizers 1920: Role of P in eutrophication of surface waters 1950: Agriculture leaches P to surface waters The enigma of N balances 1980: NH3 emissions contribute to forest dieback 1985: Governmental policies on nutrient management 2008: Looming shortages of P 2020:?? dec- 00 dec- 01 dec- 02 dec- 03 Fosfaaterts, US$/MT dec- 04 dec- 05 dec- 06 dec- 07 dec- 08 dec- 09 dec- 10 Bron: Index Mundi, World Bank

11 Essential nutrient elements Plants need 14 elements: N, P, K, Mg, Ca, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, B, Mo, Cl (Ni) Animals & humans need 22 elements: N, P, K, Mg, Ca, S, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Mo, Cl, Co, Na, Se, I, Cr, Ni, V, Sn, As, F Focus often on N and P only Uneven distribution on earth: (micro) nutrient deficiency hits ~2 billion of people Excess nutrients contributes to pollution and ecosystem degradation

12 Developments in nutrient management 1. Crop & soil specific fertilization recommendations (~100 yrs) 2. Nutrient budgets & monitoring nutrient concentrations (~50 yrs) Field scale Farm scale Watershed scale Regional/national scale Food chain 3. Nutrient management (~20 yrs): Meeting agronomic and societal objectives Nutrient recycling and emission mitigation techniques Voluntary and regulatory / mandatory approaches Scenario analyses

13 Practice: huge differences in efficiency At farm level and country levels, e.g. N use efficiency in milk production in EU-27 Lesschen et al., 2011

14 3. Global trends, important for nutrient management Increasing human population: more food needed Increasing prosperity: changing diets, more meat Increasing urbanization: changing food transport + processing Technological developments: changing systems Governmental policies and subsidies Globalization and trade liberalization: Economics of scale Economics of specialization Economics of intensification Location specific cost advantages: Agglomeration near clients and suppliers

15 Concerns about sufficient, safe and healthy food About 15% of the people in the world has insufficient (access to) food; about 30% suffers from micronutrient deficiency, especially when animal food intake is low

16 Consumption of animal protein increasing Westhoek et al., 2011; FAO, 2010 FAO,

17 Concerns about impacts of food production on environment Agriculture has dominant shares in global biodiversity loss, resource depletion, euthrophication of surface waters, soil degradation and climate change

18 Increasing differences in labour productivity

19 Farms in decline and farms in development

20 Food & Farm income: value of crop products 1. Pharmaceuticals, drugs 2. Fragrances, parfums 3. Flavours 4. Flowers Dilemmas: 5. Fruits 1. Food vs. non-food 6. Vegetables 2. Commodities vs. niche products 7. Food crops 3. Added value by products vs 8. Fodder added value chain management 9. Fibres 10. Fuel Rabbinge, 2008e, 2008

21 Changes in food production-consumption chain Power of consumers, retail and processing industry increases relative to producers. Diversification of products: added values increases. Few transnational corporations (TNCs) increasingly dominate the production sector: Standard setting & emissions registration Monitoring, reporting & verification (MRV)

22 4. Global challenges for nutrient management 1. Resources depletion vs. regional nutrient enrichment 2. Geo-political constraints vs. equity Against the background of other challenges: Increased demands for food, fibre and biofuel Regional soil / land degradation Relative water shortages Relative energy shortages Climate change

23 Estimated number of years for resource depletion De Haes et al., 2011

24 Targets for nutrient management Increase nutrient use efficiency; 1. Increase crop & animal productivity 2. Increase recycling of nutrients from waste and residues; 3. Balancing availability of all essential (micro) nutrients 4. Decrease nutrient losses 5. Improve incentives for effective measures in practice NUE (%) Seeking the right balance Africa Europe World China Soil mining Balanced inand outputs Risk of high N losses

25 Re-connecting nutrient flows in production and consumption

26 Increase recycling of manure & waste nutrients (1) Three main options: 1. Re-consider production and consumption systems and locations 2. Collection at source and transport of manures and wastes to crop land 3. Manure & waste processing and re-use of nutrients

27 Increase recycling of manure & waste nutrients (2) The only sustainable pathway, but complex: 1. Core of new EU environmental policy 2. Socio-economic costs are high 3. Separation of contaminants from nutrients in manures and wastes is difficult; 4. Organization is extremely difficult: free-riders behaviour

28 Future developments depend on many factors Raskin, 2003; IAASTD (2009)

29 Analysis of future food chains in EU-27 EU-27 is ~self sufficient in food, except for Soya Phosphate fertilizers Pharmaceuticals, tea, coffee How to survive without import Which adaptations needed?

30 Summarizing conclusions Nutrient management is hot Drastic increases in nutrient recycling needed Outlook studies needed, at global and regional scales Incentives needed for increasing NUE Global coordination needed

31 Current N & P controls in Agriculture in NL

32 Co-benefits and trade-offs of nutrient management Co-benefits Lower GHG emissions Less odour Increased animal health Trade-offs Economic performance Animal welfare Land-use changes

33 Manure processing PIG MANURE 1 ANAEROBIC DIGESTION (OPTIONAL) SOLID FRACTION 2 MECHANICAL SEPARATION LIQUID FRACTION AGRICULTURE 3 DIGESTION (OPTIONAL) 7 PRETREATMENT (OPTIONAL) 12 TREATMENT OF RESIDUE 8 ULTRAFILTRATION 4 DRYING PERMEATE CONCENTRATE EXPORT 9 UF-CONCENTRATE 5 PYROLYSIS / GASIFICATION 6 INCINERATION 10 REVERSE OSMOSIS 13 BIOCHAR / ASH 14 ASH PERMEATE CONCENTRATE 11 WATER 11 OO-CONCENTRATE

34 Environment Food chain and environmental impacts Wastes Consumers Industry Emissions Food Retail Non-food Processing Processing Emissions By-products Feed Livestock production Grass Emissions Manure Arable land Grassland Fertilizers, water, energy, pesticides Resource use Emissions

35 Feed conversion, land use and GHG emission in EU-27 Feed conversion Land (m 2 ) per kg product kg CO 2 -eq per kg product Eggs Milk Beef Pork Chicken Lesschen et al, 2010

36 GHG emission (Mton CO2-eq) Total GHG emission per sector in EU CO2 Land use change soybean CO2 fossil fuel consumption CO2 fertilizer production CO2 liming and organic soils CH4 enteric fermentation CH4 manure management N2O manure management N2O soil emission 50 0 Dairy cows Beef cattle Pigs Poultry Laying hens Sheep and goats Arable sector Lesschen et al,

37 Nitrogen balance EU-27 in 2005 (N flows in Tg) NUE= 52% NUE= 18%

38 Management 1. Strategic management: long-term development goals; the structure of the system; investments 2. Tactical management: medium-term planning to achieve overall objectives; mechanization, crop rotation, pest control, grazing, fertilization, irrigation 3. Operational decisions; day-to-day decisions about soil, crop, animal, fertilization & pest management

39 Improving environmental performance 1. Management measures ( software ) Relatively cheap, knowledge-intensive 2. Technical measures ( hardware ) Relatively expensive, but saving labour costs 3. Structural change ( orgware ) Fundamental change, not done often