
- The Ministry of Infrastructure published a report on implementation of Directive 91/676/EEC (nitrate) in the years 2020 – 2024. In the document you can read data on the use of fertilizers in the last years.
- The level of use of fertilizers is most influenced by the current market situation.
Fertilization is the most cost in practice. Particularly this applies to commodity crops, where the level of fertilization in a large meter depends on planting. Together with and higher crop we bring also and a greater pool of nutrients from soil. If these lost nutrients are returned to soil in form mineral fertilizers, or don’t balance these losses for example. injecting into the soil other sources of nutrients (intercrops/fertilizers natural) leads to reduction of the productive potential of soil. Such situation is observed
in many farms in last years, which is a result mostly related to what happened
on the market of fertilizers.
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Do in beans also supplement potassium?
How much in Poland does use nitrogen?
Farmers use among other fewer fertilizers of nitrogen, mainly for this reason, that the correlation between the price of nitrogen and the price of major agricultural crops is disturbed.
– For many years the level of mineral nutrition has been about 130-140 kg of pure nutrient. In the season 2021/2022 the level of consumption decreased to
116 kg/ha UR, a in the season 2022/2023 (according estimates) was below 110 kg – reads the report on implementation
of the Directive 91/676/EEC (nitrate) in the years 20 – 2024.
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Less nitrogen, but primarily less phosphorus and potassium
Not only consumption of nitrogen has decreased. This has always been considered as a priority component in farms. There is less consumption of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers, which in our soils, which often have low abundance of these components is very important.
– The N:P:K ratio was 1.00:0.35:0.54 and still significantly differed from recommended. In balanced fertilization for crop field in soil conditions in Poland the recommended proportions: 1.00:0.50:0.98, and for TUZ: 1.00:0.46:0.68. Such relationships may
lead to depletion of soil in available forms P and K and to reduction of efficiency of fertilizers N, at the same time causing negative environmental
effects – we read in another fragment of the aforementioned report.
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About 15 kg N/ha less
The largest balance by division of the country in provinces (data from the period 2019-2021) was 78,2 kg N/ha (voivodeship. Wielkopolskie). Compared with the previous available three-year period (2017-2019) this value is decidedly lower than
the maximum value equivalent 93,7 kg N/ha (for this same village).
– the average value for Poland is lower than the value from
an earlier period. Today is 38.7 kg N/ha of agricultural land, against values of 52.5 kg N/ha for period 2017-2019.
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Market breakdown
After pandemi Covid 19, in year 2022 there was an increase in prices of vehicles, and there were difficulties in their availability (beginning of war in Ukraine) , which transferred to a decrease in use by almost 11% to 1.73 million tons.
– According to estimates in the season 2022/23 consumption further declined by a 7% to level 1.7 million t. – read in the report.
Comparing consumption of mineral fertilizers per 1 ha UR, Poland places in the middle of the European rate (consumption below 110kg/ha). More consumption is reported in Germany (130.1 kg/ha), Denmark (132.6 kg/ha), France (153.3 kg/ha). The absolute leader is there The Netherlands with 274.4 kg/ha!
Savings and precision
Not only prices and availability shape level use of fertilizers. No less important have there changes in ways of applying fertilizers. More and more often, even from exclusively economic reasons, farmers are reaching for methods of precision farming, or then Agriculture 4.0.
– Before the implementation PS WPR 2023-2027, methods such were used in the country 543 thousand farms using natural fertilizers. Another 64 thousand. farms had tractor-based navigation GPS, which enables reduction of applied mineral fertilizers thanks to precise monitoring of their application -read in the above mentioned report.
Will consumption be further declining?
What are the forecasts for the next years?
– If it comes to mineral fertilizers nutrients, their consumption appears to remain at the level 69-73 kg N/ha. Much depends on the development situation in the market for gas, which is the basic raw material for production and shaping the price. This forecast will be influenced also by the spread of precision fertilization – reads further.
Not present importance has also been determining the relationship between imports.and export fertilizers.
There is also a clear decline in use of natural fertilizers and there is an observed trend of seeking alternative methods of injecting into soil sources of organic matter.
– Under naturalfertilizersareprojectedtodecreasetheiruseinthefuture,in linewiththedecreaseinthenumberoffarmsproducinganimals,asandtheherd itself.
Increasethescaleandconcentrationofpoultry,especiallyinthefarmindustry,stimulatewillsolutionsfromthebioeconomy,includingbionicfertilizersandorganicfertilizers.Byconsideringthenecessityofrestoringsoilresources,farmswillbeforcedtoseekothersolutions-we readinthenextsectionofthisdocument.