Soil nutrient balances for Northern Ireland agriculture
Date published:
This document contains soil nutrient balances for Northern Ireland agriculture. These balances measure the difference between nutrients within inputs (feeds and fertilisers) and outputs (crop and livestock products) of agriculture and thereby estimate the nutrient loadings of nitrogen and phosphorus to agricultural soils. They thereby provide an estimate of nitrogen and phosphorus loadings to agricultural soils.
The balances provide a high-level indicator of farming’s pressure on the environment and how that pressure is changing over time. They do not estimate actual nutrient losses to the environment, but significant nutrient surpluses are directly linked with losses to the environment.