Miljø- og Fødevareudvalget 2021-22
MOF Alm.del Bilag 617
Offentligt
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Derogation Report 2021
Danish Report
in accordance with the
Commission Decisions
2005/294/EC, 2008/664/EC,
2012/659/EU, 2017/847/EU,
2018/1928/EU and
2020/1074/EU
June 2022
 MOF, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 617: Orientering om den årlige rapport til EU-Kommissionen om den danske undtagelse fra nitratdirektivet, fra miljøministeren
Ministry of Environment of Denmark
Department
Slotsholmsgade 12
DK-1216 Copenhagen K
2
Ministry of Environment of Denmark / Nitrates Directive / Derogation Report 2021
 MOF, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 617: Orientering om den årlige rapport til EU-Kommissionen om den danske undtagelse fra nitratdirektivet, fra miljøministeren
Table of contents
1.
2.
2.1
2.2
2.3
2.4
2.5
3.
3.1
3.2
3.3
3.4
3.5
3.6
4.
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6
5.
5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
6.
6.1
6.2
6.3
7.
7.1
8.
8.1
8.2
8.3
8.4
8.5
Introduction
Maps of cattle holdings, arable land and livestock in kg N in 2019/2020
Map of derogation holdings 2019/2020
Map of arable land 2019/2020
Map of livestock in kg N in 2019/2020
Use of the derogation
Trends in livestock
Controls at farm level
Control of compliance with the Danish derogation
Summary of inspection results 2021
Inspection of compliance within the derogation year
Results
General inspection of the harmony rules
Control of fertilizer accounts
Water quality
Introduction
Development in agricultural practices at the national level from 2005 to 2020
Modelled nitrate leaching for farm types and geographical areas and the
impact of derogation farms at the national level – 2020 data
Development in modelled nitrate leaching in the Agricultural Catchment
Monitoring Programme 1990-2019
Measurements of nitrate in water leaving the root zone
The nitrogen flow to surface water in agricultural catchments
Reinforced monitoring in areas characterized by sandy soils
Introduction
Method
Characterization of monitoring stations and data analysis
Results and Discussion
Indicator and monitoring system for application of phosphorus in
Denmark
Introduction
Results from the P monitoring system
Results from P indicator system
Targeted catch crops scheme and targeted nitrogen regulation
Results from 2017 to 2021
Conclusions
Cattle holdings and controls on farm level
Water quality
Targeted catch crops and targeted nitrogen regulation
The reinforced monitoring
The phosphorus indicator and monitoring system
4
5
5
5
5
6
10
12
12
12
12
13
14
17
19
19
21
25
34
35
40
45
45
45
48
49
55
55
55
56
58
59
60
60
60
61
62
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 MOF, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 617: Orientering om den årlige rapport til EU-Kommissionen om den danske undtagelse fra nitratdirektivet, fra miljøministeren
1.
Introduction
With Commission Decisions 2005/294/EC, 2008/664/EC, 2012/659/EU,
2017/847/EU, 2018/1928/EU, and 2020/1074/EU Danish cattle holdings are
allowed to derogate from the general rules in the Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC).
The relevant decisions for the data reported in this report are 2018/1928/EU and
2020/1074/EU. According to these decisions, cattle holdings could apply for authori-
sations to apply livestock manure corresponding to up to 230 kg N per hectare per
year if more than 80 per cent of the area available for manure application was culti-
vated with beets, grass or grass catch crops. Furthermore, derogation holdings have
to comply with several other conditions laid down in the decision.
The aim of this report is to present maps showing the percentage of farms and
percentage of agricultural land encompassed by the derogation in each Danish mu-
nicipality for the planning period 2019/2020.
According to the decisions 2018/1928/EU and 2020/1074/EU, the Danish authori-
ties shall submit the following information to the Commission for the derogation
period 2019/2020:
According to Article 10 (1) and 12 (a): maps, showing the percentage of cattle
farms, percentage of livestock and percentage of agricultural land covered by
the derogation for each municipality of Denmark.
According to Article 12 (g), an evaluation of the implementation of the dero-
gation conditions, on the basis of controls at farm level and information on
non-compliant farms, based on the results of the administrative and field in-
spections.
According to Article 12 (b, c, e), the results on ground and surface water
monitoring as regards nitrate and phosphate, including information on water
quality trends as well as the impact of derogation on water quality. Further
results of model-based calculations from farms benefiting from an individual
derogation.
According to Article 12 (d and f), the results of the surveys on local land use,
crop rotations and agricultural practices including tables showing the per-
centage of agricultural land under derogation covered by clover or alfalfa in
grassland and by barley/pea, undersown with grass.
According to article 12 (h), trends in livestock numbers and manure produc-
tion for each livestock category in Denmark and in derogation farms.
The derogation decision 2018/1928/EU and 2020/1074/EU requires according to
Articles 10 (2) and 12 (b), reporting of water quality data from reinforced monitoring
on sandy soils and in an area, where at least 3% of all derogation farms are located.
The monitoring data is updated with data from 2020 in this report.
Various Danish authorities and institutions have contributed to this report, edited by
the Ministry of Environment of Denmark. The respective authors, and hence respon-
sible institutions for the different chapters, can be found under the heading to the re-
spective chapters.
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 MOF, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 617: Orientering om den årlige rapport til EU-Kommissionen om den danske undtagelse fra nitratdirektivet, fra miljøministeren
2.
Maps of cattle holdings, arable land and livestock in kg N in
2019/2020
Lars Paulsen & Lene Kragh Møller, the Danish Agricultural Agency, Ministry of
Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of Denmark, January 2022
For the planning period 2019/2020, the Danish Agricultural Agency received 32,164
fertilizer accounts containing key figures on the use of nitrogen (commercial fertilizer
and livestock manure). The accounts were registered and reviewed. The maps (Fig-
ure 2.1 – Figure 2.3)
are based on the number of agricultural holdings, kg N per
hectare per year and arable land used by derogation farms in 2019/2020. The ferti-
lizer
accounting year runs from 1
st
of August to 31
st
of July. Accounts for
2019/2020 were to be submitted to the Danish Agricultural Agency no later than 31
st
of March 2021.
In the fertilizer account, the farmer states whether the derogation was used.
This means that the individual farmer needs to apply for the use of the derogation
when the farmer submits the fertilizer quota and catch crops plan (at the latest 21
st
of
April each year). The information about the application is automatically transferred
to the fertilizer accounting system. The maps of cattle holdings, arable land and kg N
from organic fertilisers per hectare per year are based on the data reported by the
farmers. In reports before 2019, a map with livestock units per year was presented.
This has from 2019 been replaced by a map showing kg N from organic fertilisers, in-
cluding livestock manure per hectare and year at municipal level. In Danish regula-
tion, it has generally from 2019 been changed to limit livestock density at farm level
via a maximum allowable N application from organic fertilisers (instead of number of
livestock). However, since one livestock unit corresponds to 100 kg N (ex storage),
the data is directly convertible and hence does not present any change in the limita-
tion per area.
2.1
Map of derogation holdings 2019/2020
The map (Fig
2.1)
shows derogation holdings in percentage of the total number of
agricultural holdings registered in each respective Danish municipality.
In 2019/2020, 1,197 derogation holdings were encompassed by the derogation. This
corresponds to 3.7 % of all registered fertilizer accounts. The applied amount of
manure on these farms ranged from 170 to 230 kg N per hectare per year. If the pro-
duction of manure on a derogation farm corresponds to more than 230 kg N per hec-
tare, the farmer is obliged to deliver the excess manure to one or more contractual
partner-farmers.
2.2
Map of arable land 2019/2020
The map (Figure
2.2)
shows the share of arable land on derogation holdings in rela-
tion to the total agricultural area in each Danish municipality.
In 2019/2020, the arable land on cattle holdings encompassed by the derogation was
182,950 hectare at national scale. This corresponded to 7.6 % of the registered area
used for agriculture in Denmark.
2.3
Map of livestock in kg N in 2019/2020
The map (Figure
2.3)
shows the share of kg N distributed from cattle holdings
encompassed by the derogation holdings in relation to the total kg N from organic
fertilisers in each Danish municipality.
Ministry of Environment of Denmark / Nitrates Directive / Derogation Report 2021
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 MOF, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 617: Orientering om den årlige rapport til EU-Kommissionen om den danske undtagelse fra nitratdirektivet, fra miljøministeren
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In 2019/2020, the kg N from organic fertilisers distributed from cattle holdings
encompassed by the derogation was 36.8 million kg N in total. This corresponded to
16.8 % of all kg N in organic fertilisers distributed on the agricultural area in Den-
mark.
2.4
Use of the derogation
Over the first three planning periods in which the derogation was used, i.e.
2002/2003, 2003/2004 and 2004/2005, an increase in the use of the derogation
was registered both regarding the number of farms, the number of hectares and the
number of livestock units (
Table 2.1
). This tendency was broken in 2005/2006,
where a decrease was observed for all three measured parameters and the decreasing
trend continued until the period 2008/2009. Between 2009/2010 and 2015/2016,
an overall increase in the agricultural area using the derogation was observed,
whereas the number of farms remained at a more constant level. The general trend of
Danish farms becoming bigger is reflected in these numbers and from 2016/2017
there has been a decrease in the number of farms and the number of hectares encom-
passed by the derogation. From 2017/2018, the number of livestock unit was
replaced by produced kg N per year in the Danish legislation.
Table 2.1: Development in use of the derogation for number of farms, agricultural
area and kg N in organic fertilisers per year (livestock units (LU) until 2016/2017)
from 2002/2003 until 2019/2020 (One LU=100 kg N (ex storage)).
Year
Number of
derogation
farms
1,845
1,927
2,331
1,779
1,610
1,296
1,115
1,507
1,607
1,652
1,481
1,482
1,500
1,466
1,378
Share of
total
farms (%)
4.0
4.0
5.0
3.4
3.2
2.8
2.4
3.3
3.9
4.0
3.7
3.8
4.0
4.2
3.9
Area of
derogation
(hectare)
123,068
128,523
134,780
115,336
111,845
92,282
90,647
134,698
164,353
175,783
162,176
189,495
205,165
210,061
205,874
Share of
total
Area (%)
5.0
5.0
5.0
4.2
4.0
3.9
3.6
6.1
7.4
7.1
6.7
7.7
8.2
8.6
8.4
Number of
LUs
Share of
total LUs
(%)
10.6
10.6
12.9
10.3
9.5
8.3
8.2
11.9
14.1
15.5
14.5
17.1
18.6
19.4
19.3
Share of
total kg N
(%)
18.1
17.8
16.8
2002/2003
2003/2004
2004/2005
2005/2006
2006/2007
2007/2008
2008/2009
2009/2010
2010/2011
2011/2012
2012/2013
2013/2014
2014/2015
2015/2016
2016/2017
213,617
225,586
277,330
220,839
211,765
186,313
176,588
276,765
341,781
365,887
334,508
397,014
425,102
443,134
439,114
Mill. kg N
(org. fert.)
2017/2018
2018/2019
2019/2020
1,312
1,284
1,197
3.9
3.9
3.7
198,195
195,804
182,950
8.2
8.1
7.6
39.6
39.1
36.8
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The livestock density on derogation farms has remained at an approximately con-
stant level, compared to the periods 2009/2010-2016/2017 and the average number
of livestock units per farm has increased over the same period. From 2017/2018, the
average livestock size and the average livestock density were measured in kg N (from
organic fertilisers) per holding and in kg N (from organic fertilisers) per hectare per
year.
By comparison, a total number of 9,839 Danish agricultural holdings had cattle as
livestock in 2019/2020. These holdings housed in total 117.2 million kg N from
organic fertilisers and covered an agricultural area of 811,062 hectare. This gave an
average of 11,910 kg N from organic fertilisers per cattle holding and an average live-
stock density of 144 kg N from organic fertilisers per hectare on all Danish cattle
farms. Consequently, approximately 12.2 % of all cattle farms were derogation farms
in 2019/2020, and the derogation (cattle) farms housed 31.4 % of all cattle-kg N in
Denmark, covering 22.6 % of the total Danish cattle farm area.
Table 2.2: Average number of spread livestock units
1
(LU) per holding and per
hectare under the derogation until 2016/2017. From 2017/2018 the number of
livestock is expressed by kg N from organic fertilisers (One LU = 100 kg N (ex
storage)).
Year
2002/2003
2003/2004
2004/2005
2005/2006
2006/2007
2007/2008
2008/2009
2009/2010
2010/2011
2011/2012
2012/2013
2013/2014
2014/2015
2015/2016
2016/2017
Average livestock size
(LU/holding)
115.78
117.07
118.97
124.14
131.53
143.76
158.37
183.65
212.68
221.48
225.86
267.89
283.40
302.27
318.66
Average livestock size
(kg N/holding)
2017/2018
2018/2019
2
Average livestock den-
sity (LU/ha)
1.74
1.76
2.06
1.91
1.89
2.02
1.95
2.05
2.08
2.08
2.06
2.10
2.07
2.11
2.13
Average livestock den-
sity
(kg N/ha)
199
200
30.171
30.475
1
“Spread LU” is the term used to describe the amount of livestock manure, which is being applied to agri-
cultural land within the farm, as this amount can be different from the amount of livestock manure pro-
duced at farm level due to import or export of livestock manure from/to other farms. One LU corresponds
to 100 kg manure-N (ex storage) in the Danish system.
From 2017/2018, the number of livestock units (LU) is replaced by produced kg N from organic fertilisers
per year in the Danish legislation (One LU = 100 kg N).
2
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2019/2020
30.769
201
Figure 2.1: Derogation holdings in percent of total number of agricultural hold-
ings in Denmark in 2019/2020. The location of each holding is determined by ad-
dress of the owner.
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Figure 2.2: Agricultural land encompassed by the derogation in 2019/2020 in
percent of the total agricultural area in Denmark. The location of each holding is
determined by address of the owner.
The maps (Figure
2.1 – Figure 2.3)
illustrate that derogation cattle holdings are
concentrated in the western parts of Jutland. A few holdings are located on Zealand
and even fewer on Funen and the island of Bornholm.
Ministry of Environment of Denmark / Nitrates Directive / Derogation Report 2021
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 MOF, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 617: Orientering om den årlige rapport til EU-Kommissionen om den danske undtagelse fra nitratdirektivet, fra miljøministeren
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Figure 2.3: Kg N from organic fertilisers per hectare per year spread on deroga-
tion farms in percent of total kg N from organic fertilisers in 2019/2020 in Den-
mark. The location of each holding is determined by address of the owner.
2.5
Trends in livestock
According to decision 2018/1928/EU, and 2020/1074/EU the Danish authorities
shall submit information about trends in livestock numbers and manure production
for each livestock category in Denmark and in derogation farms according to Article
12 (h). All numbers have been brought to a round number in order to have a clearer
picture.
10
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The trends in livestock numbers (i.e. number of herds
3
) and manure production in kg
N (until 2016/2017 in number of LUs
4
) for each livestock category and in derogation
farms can be derived from the data shown in
Table 2.3
. Over the planning periods
from 2014/2015 to 2019/2020, the number of herds have decreased for each live-
stock category. The total number of Danish herds of livestock has decreased by ca. 20
% in between the planning periods of 2014/2015 and 2019/2020. From 2017/2018
the LUs is replaced by kg N.
Table 2.3: Number of Danish herds of livestock and production of manure in live-
stock units (LUs) or in kg N per livestock category, rounded to the closest unit of
100 (1 LU=100 kg N (ex storage))
Livestock
category
Year
2014/2015
No. herds
No. LUs
2015/2016
No. herds
No. LUs
2016/2017
No. herds
No. LUs
2017/2018
No. herds
kg N, mill.
2018/2019
No. herds
kg N, mill.
2019/2020
10,200
116.4
1,300
39.1
3,300
78.5
1,900
18.6
2,000
1.0
5,300
2.2
22,700
216.7
10,800
115.2
1,300
39.6
3,400
80.0
2,000
20.2
2,000
1.0
5,500
2.2
23,700
218.6
11,500
1,186,800
1,400
439,100
3,600
883,700
2,100
183,000
2,200
10,600
5,600
18,100
25,000
2,282,200
11,800
1,193,400
1,500
443,100
3,900
881,300
2,000
178,000
2,300
10,500
5,800
18,800
25,800
2,282,000
12,300
1,164,700
1,500
425,100
4,100
905,300
2,000
190,500
2,400
12,200
6,100
19,100
26,900
2,291,800
Cattle
total
Dero-
gation
cattle
5
Pigs
Fur and
poultry
Sheep
and
goats
Others
Total
3
The total number of herds does not coincide with total number of holdings in Denmark. A herd in-
cludes only one type of livestock and some holdings keep more than one herd, e.g. cattle and pigs.
4
5
One livestock unit is defined as 100 kg nitrogen in the livestock manure ex storage.
The amount of derogation cattle herds and LUs/kg N (organic fertiliser) are a part of “cattle total” and,
thus, is not included in the summarization of herds and LUs/kg N (organic fertiliser) in “total”.
Ministry of Environment of Denmark / Nitrates Directive / Derogation Report 2021
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No. herds
kg N, mill.
9,800
117.2
1,200
36.8
3,000
80.2
1,700
16.7
1,900
1.0
5,100
2.1
21,500
217.2
3.
Controls at farm level
Lars Paulsen & Lene Kragh Møller, the Danish Agricultural Agency, Ministry of
Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of Denmark, January 2022
3.1
Control of compliance with the Danish derogation
According to Article 12 of Commission Decisions 2018/1928/EU, and 2020/1074/EU
Denmark must submit a concise report on the evaluation practice, i.e. control at farm
level, to the Commission every year.
The control of compliance with the Commission Decisions 2018/1928/EU and
2020/1074/EU follows two strategies:
1.
Inspection of compliance with farm management, which is carried out during
the year the farmer uses the derogation. This includes field inspections.
2. Control of the amount of livestock manure applied per hectare per year (con-
trol of compliance with the harmony rules), which is carried out after the
derogation year has ended. This control is carried out as an administrative
inspection of submitted fertilizer accounts.
3.2
Summary of inspection results 2021
Compliance with management conditions:
Inspection at the farm in January and February 2021: 79 inspections were
carried out. 79 holdings complied with the derogation management condi-
tions, no holdings got a remark in 2021 (
Table 3.1
).
Compliance with the harmony rules for holdings using the derogation:
Administrative inspections of the submitted fertilizer accounts for 85 in-
spected farms in January and February 2020: 9 holdings complied with the
specific rules for derogation holdings. No holdings had minor violations.
76 holdings are still under investigation (
Table 3.2
).
Administrative control of the submitted fertilizer accounts: 48 inspections
were carried out, out of which 33 holdings complied with the rules. Two hold-
ings had minor violations and 13 holdings are still under investigation (
Table
3.5
).
3.3
Inspection of compliance within the derogation year
The farmers are required to fulfil certain conditions in order to use the derogation.
The Danish Agricultural Agency has inspected the fulfilment of the Danish deroga-
tion conditions on derogation holdings from 2002/2003 through 2020/2021. Some
conditions have to be checked on site at the farm (physical inspection), for example
certain ploughing conditions, which are checked in January and February.
During the inspection at the farm, the inspector asks the following questions:
12
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Does the farm have a yearly production of nitrogen in livestock manure
above 300 kg of which at least 2/3 are from cattle (2/3 of the livestock units),
i.e. is the farm mainly a cattle holding?
Has a plan been made for crops grown in the actual planning period?
Has the manager stated that the farm intends to comply with the 230 kg
nitrogen per hectare per year derogation in the crop rotation plan?
Does the plan contain leguminous crops, e.g. red and white clover?
Has a declaration about (omitted) manure application been made?
Does the plan include ploughing grassland or grass catch crops in the plan-
ning period?
If the answer is “yes” in question 6: Have the fields already been ploughed by
the time of inspection?
Does 80 % or more of the acreage available for manure application cultivated
with crops with high nitrogen uptake and long growing season?
The inspection is based on 1) an interview with the farmer, 2) an inspection of the
farms crop rotation plan for the previous and coming growing season and 3) a visual
inspection of fields designated for ploughing.
At the inspection, the inspector draws up a report, which includes answers to the
abovementioned questions. At the end of the inspection, the farmer is informed
whether the holding is allowed to apply manure corresponding to 230 kg N/ha/year,
i.e. whether the derogation can be used or not. If the holding is not complying with
the derogation conditions, the holding is only allowed to apply livestock manure up
to 170 kg N/ha/year. In this case, the farmer has to find other legal means of dispos-
ing the surplus manure produced on the farm.
If a farmer informs the inspector that the derogation will not be used, the field in-
spection is not carried out. An administrative control of the farm is carried out in-
stead by the time the fertilizer account has been submitted. This control is carried out
to secure that no more than 170 kg N/ha/year was applied.
The inspection report is submitted by the inspector to the headquarters of the Danish
Agricultural Agency for possible further administrative inspection. The Danish Agri-
cultural Agency verifies the data. Additional remarks made by the inspector, if any,
are examined. This includes a process where the parties of interest are allowed to
make statements on the case if an infringement is discovered.
3.4
Results
st
of January until 1
st
of March 2021, the Danish Agricultural Agency carried
From 1
out 79 inspections on derogation holdings to inspect whether the conditions require-
ments were met. The control refers to the fertilizer accounts for the planning year
2019/2020 where some conditions are controlled in the next planning period
2020/2021.
Table 3.1
shows the results of the inspection for the last 18 years. Only
very few remarks have been given and in general a good compliance with the rules
has been noted.
Ministry of Environment of Denmark / Nitrates Directive / Derogation Report 2021
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Table 3.1: Results of on-site inspection of compliance within the derogation years
during winter.
Control
planning-
period
6
2003/2004
2004/2005
2005/2006
2006/2007
2007/2008
2008/2009
2009/2010
2010/2011
2011/2012
2012/2013
2013/2014
2014/2015
2015/2016
2016/2017
2017/2018
2018/2019
2019/2020
2020/2021
Total number of
inspections
35
46
50
50
54
47
51
50
54
49
47
49
48
49
90
86
85
79
Inspections
without re-
marks
29
46
49
49
54
46
49
50
52
49
46
49
48
48
87
86
85
79
Inspections
with remarks
6
0
1
1
0
1
2
0
2
0
1
0
0
1
3
0
0
0
3.5
General inspection of the harmony rules
Harmony rules
Control of the harmony rules (i.e. the amount of livestock manure applied per hectare
per year) on derogation farms is carried out after the derogation year has ended.
This control is carried out within the general inspection of the Danish harmony rules.
The inspector visits the farm to inspect the production based on various production
and fertilizer account documents. Violation of the harmony rules is sanctioned.
For minor violations, the farmer receives a notification and recommendation or a
warning. For more severe violations, the farmer is reports to the police and receives a
fine. Farmers that receive a warning or a fine are reported for not complying with the
cross compliance criteria.
Administrative inspection included submitted fertilizer accounts concerning the year
2018/2019, for 85 inspected farms in January and February 2020 for violation of the
harmony rules. The holdings were automatically selected for inspection, based on a
previously agreed set of “risk criteria”. The Danish Agricultural Agency has therefore
no direct influence on how many derogation holdings ware selected for “harmony
rules inspection”. Out of these administrative inspections, 9 holdings (10.6 %)
6
The respective controls during the planning period 2020/2021, which have been performed in January
and February 2021 are related to the fact that the farmer has made use of the derogation in the previous
planning period, i.e. 2019/2020. This applies also to all previous control years.
14
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complied with the specific rules for derogation holdings. 76 holdings (89.4 %) are still
under investigation and no holdings had minor violations (Table
3.2).
Table 3.2 Results of administrative inspection of compliance with the harmony
rules for farms using the derogation.
Control
planning-
period
Total
number
of in-
spec-
tions
65
27
32
27
37
52
43
29
30
28
86
84
Inspec-
tions
without
re-
marks
59
22
26
24
35
50
40
27
29
24
85
60
Inspec-
tions
with
minor
viola-
tions
0
2
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
3
Inspec-
tions
with
fines
Inspec-
tions
still un-
der in-
vestiga-
tion
7
1
1
0
0
2
0
0
1
1
2
1
21
2006/2007
2007/2008
2008/2009
2009/2010
2010/2011
2011/2012
2012/2013
2013/2014
2014/2015
2015/2016
2016/2017
2017/2018
5
2
5
2
0
2
3
1
0
2
0
0
2018/2019
1
85
9
0
0
76
1
Administrative inspections of the submitted fertilizer accounts for 85 inspected farms in Jan-
uary and February 2020 (Table 3.1)
Soil analysis
If the derogation is used for four consecutive years, the farmer must provide a soil
analysis where phosphorous and nitrogen levels in the soil are examined. One sample
per five hectares must be provided.
In Denmark, the soil analysis for phosphorus (the ”P-tal”) indicates the soil’s phos-
phorus status and hence approximates the level of phosphorus in the soil available
for uptake by the crop. Internationally, the soil analysis is referred to as “Olsen-P”.
Olsen-P is often expressed in mg P per kg soil. In Denmark, however, the “P-tal” is
expressed in mg P per 100 g soil. Olsen-P in Danish agricultural soil is in average
around 40 mg P per kg soil (P-tal = 4.0). Only a part of the inorganic phosphorus
available for the crop is extracted from the soil sample, when the phosphorus status
is determined. This extractable part accounts for approximately 5 to 10 per cent of
the total phosphorous content of the soil. A P-tal between 2 and 4 is generally ac-
cepted as a sufficient level for most crops and 2-2.5 is the lower critical soil P level.
A P-tal above 6 is considered very high.
The N-total analysis is used to determine the amount of extra fertilizer to be added to
meet the nutrient demand of the crop. The total soil N content (N-total) describes the
N pool in the soil, which potentially is available to the crops as a result of slow miner-
alization. In Denmark, depending on the C/N ratio in the soil, the standard N-total is
7
I.e. inspections still under investigation at time of reporting. Numbers of inspections still under investiga-
tion prior to 2017/2018 are not updated. Thus, these inspections may have been finalized.
Ministry of Environment of Denmark / Nitrates Directive / Derogation Report 2021
15
 MOF, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 617: Orientering om den årlige rapport til EU-Kommissionen om den danske undtagelse fra nitratdirektivet, fra miljøministeren
2601529_0016.png
0.13 %. The farmer cannot expect any N-supply from mineralization, if the level of
0.13 % N-total is found. If the value is above 0.22 %, the level is high and expected
mineralization is (accounted for with) 40 kg N in maize and cereals per hectare.
The N-total standard for grass fields is 0.18-0.22 %, and if the value is above 0.22 %,
the expected mineralization is (accounted for with) 10 kg N per hectare.
Results of soil analyses from derogation farms
The sampling and analyses must be carried out at least once every four years (prior to
2012/2013, the requirement was at least once every three years). The results of the
development of compliance with the requirement of soil analysis are shown in
Table
3.3.
The inspection of derogation farms for 2018/2019 showed that four holdings out of
the nine (44.4 %) inspected holdings had to provide soil analysis. No holdings got a
remark regarding soil analysis.
Table 3.3: Results of inspection of compliance with the soil analysis requirement.
Control
planning-
period
2004/2005
2005/2006
2006/2007
2007/2008
2008/2009
2009/2010
2010/2011
2011/2012
2012/2013
2013/2014
2014/2015
2014/2015
2015/2016
2016/2017
2017/2018
2018/2019
Number of in-
spections for
soil analysis
74
18
39
16
22
11
14
35
30
15
22
11
41
39
9
Inspections
without remarks
Inspections
with remarks/still
under investiga-
tion
3
2
5
4
4
2
1
0
3
1
1
0
0
0
0
71
16
34
12
18
9
13
35
27
14
21
11
41
39
9
The results of the soil analyses for phosphorus and nitrogen on derogation farms are
shown in
Table 3.4
.
16
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Table 3.4: Phosphorus (“P-tal” after Olsen-P-extraction) and nitrogen
levels in soil analyses, given as average of all inspected holdings (n=4 in
2018/2019) and with the lowest and highest average values at holding
scale, respectively.
Control planning-
period
P tal
(mg
P/100 g
soil)
Aver-
age
Mini-
mum
Maxi-
mum
N-total
(%)
Aver-
age
Mini-
mum
Maxi-
mum
N in
grass
(%)
Aver-
age
Mini-
mum
Maxi-
mum
2011/
2012
4.36
2012/
2013
4.60
2013/
2014
4.33
2014/
2015
4.60
2015/
2016
4.62
2016/
2017
4.29
2017/
2018
4.22
2018/
2019
3.98
2.00
2.90
2.90
2.87
3.10
2.39
2.20
3.26
6.40
0.60
0.11
2.39
0.36
0.01
1.10
6.10
0.33
0.12
1.71
0.24
0.17
0.35
8.40
0.25
0.15
0.41
0.48
0.16
2.00
6.08
0.25
0.13
0.58
0.24
0.16
0.51
6.14
0.23
0.13
0.41
0.24
0.17
0.33
6.95
0.21
0.11
0.59
0.22
0.13
0.36
7.05
0.20
0.12
0.34
-
-
4.47
0.23
0.11
0.36
-
-
-
-
3.6
Control of fertilizer accounts
Each year, the farmers submit their fertilizer accounts to the Danish Agricultural
Agency. The accounts include key data on:
total arable land on the farm
arable land available for application of livestock manure
data on catch crops
type and number of livestock
production of livestock manure (kg N and P)
usage of livestock manure including manure from contractors
usage of fertilizers and organic matter other than livestock manure
the farms nitrogen quota and the average phosphorus ceilings for differ-
ent livestock manure, fertilizers and organic matter other than livestock
manure
information on whether the farmer has used the derogation or not
For the year 2018/2019, 645 (2.0 %) of the submitted fertilizer accounts were subject
to administrative control. 129 fertilizer accounts remain to be investigated. The data
was verified and the parties of interest were allowed to comment on their cases.
The accounts were selected based on different risk criteria. In 2018/2019, 48 (7.4 %)
derogation holdings were selected for control. The holdings were asked to submit
their updated and valid fertilization plan and to state their manure application. It was
Ministry of Environment of Denmark / Nitrates Directive / Derogation Report 2021
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 MOF, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 617: Orientering om den årlige rapport til EU-Kommissionen om den danske undtagelse fra nitratdirektivet, fra miljøministeren
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checked whether the crop rotation plan included at least 80 % crops with high N-up-
take and long growing season as well as whether leguminous plants were included.
If the derogation had been used for four consecutive years, the farmer also had to
submit the results of the soil analysis. The share of cattle- and other animal kg N on
the farm was also controlled.
Results
Out of the 48 harmony controls, 33 holdings (68.8 %) were closed without remarks.
Two holdings (4.2 %) were closed with remarks and 16 (27.1 %) inspections are still
under investigation (
Table 3.5
).
Table 3.5: Results of administrative control of compliance with the harmony
rules of farms using the derogation.
Control plan-
ning-
period
2009/2010
2010/2011
2011/2012
2012/2013
2013/2014
2014/2015
2015/2016
2016/2017
2017/2018
2018/2019
Number of
inspections
38
68
40
62
34
62
61
46
55
48
Inspections
without remarks
34
68
39
58
24
30
46
31
29
33
Inspections
with remarks
0
0
1
1
4
4
6
3
0
2
Inspections
still under
investigation
-
-
-
3
6
28
9
12
26
13
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4.
Water quality
Jonas Rolighed, Gitte Blicher-Mathiesen, Department of EcoScience, Aarhus Uni-
versity, January 2021
4.1
Introduction
Since the late 1980s, Denmark has done a comprehensive and efficient effort to im-
prove the environmental state of groundwater and surface water by lowering nitrate
concentrations, especially through reductions of nitrate leaching from agricultural
sources. The first Action Plan on the Aquatic Environment was adopted in 1987 and
has since then been followed by subsequent action programmes to ensure efforts are
made to reduce the loss of nitrogen and phosphorus to the aquatic environment.
In 1998, the Action Plan on the Aquatic Environment (APAE) II was accepted by the
EU Commission as the Danish Nitrate Action Plan implementing the Nitrates
Directive (1998-2003). In 2003, a final evaluation of Action Plan II was performed.
The results showed a 48% reduction of the nitrate leaching from the agricultural
sector, thus fulfilling the reduction target set in 1987. In the 5-year period 2001-
2005, the total flow-normalised nitrogen load to marine waters ranged within the
interval 62,000 to 70,000 t N.
In the subsequent action plans, the Green Growth Agreement from 2009, the first
and the second River Basin Management Plan from 2014 and 2016 as well as the
Food and Agricultural Agreement in December 2015, further mitigation measures
were adopted to fulfil reduction targets for the N load to marine areas and the targets
of the Water Framework Directive.
In 2015, Denmark implemented the EU Greening component under CAP direct
payments (REG EU 1307/2013), implying that at least 5% of the arable land of farms
shall be appointed as ecological focus areas with a greening element such as
set-aside, catch crops etc.
Establishment of 50,000 ha of obligatory buffer zone placed approximately 10 m
from the edge of open streams and lakes larger than 100 m
2
was decided to be imple-
mented from autumn 2012. In these buffer zones, application of fertiliser is prohib-
ited, and soil cultivation must not take place. The area with buffer zones was adjusted
from 50,000 to 25,000 ha later in 2014, and from the beginning of 2016 the addi-
tional buffer zones are no longer mandatory and restricted to the former require-
ments of 2 m buffer zones along target streams and lakes larger than 100 m
2
,
amounting to approximately 6,000 ha.
The Political Agreement on Food and Agricultural Package from December 2015
includes a diverse selection of measures aimed to change the environmental regula-
tion of the agricultural sector. The first part of this political agreement was imple-
mented from 2016.
In 2016, farmers were allowed to use more fertiliser. According to the APAE II agree-
ment, farmers were restricted in the application of fertiliser at a level that was lower
than the economic optimum. This measure in APAE II was set to reduce the fertiliser
application of nitrogen to 10% below this optimum. This rule was regulated so that
the total national nitrogen quota was set to a fixed level but with the possibility of an
adjustment relative to changes in crop cover. This adjustment made sense as crops
having a high application standard also have a higher nitrogen uptake. If crops such
as grass increase in cover, then the fertiliser application and N quota will increase as
well. However, due to the suspension of set-aside in 2008, higher yields and
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increases in the prices of cereals and proteins, the gap between the economic opti-
mum and the national N quota increased, especially after 2008, amounting to 18% in
2015.
According to the Political Agreement on Food and Agricultural Package implemented
in 2016, extra fertiliser application, amounting to 2/3 of the gap between the eco-
nomic optimum and the reduced N quota, was allowed. From 2017, farmers were
allowed to apply nitrogen up to the economic optimum. Additional cover of catch
crops and the greening element, for instance more catch crops and set-aside, were,
among other measures, introduced to counteract the potential increase in leaching
due to the extra application of fertiliser from 2016 and onwards.
Additionally, targeted catch crops of 145,000 ha were implemented in 2017 to coun-
teract the potential increase in leaching due to the extra application of fertiliser in
2017. In 2018, 2019 and 2020, the need for targeted catch crops was approximately
114,000, 139,000 and 373,000 ha, respectively. The targeted catch crops scheme was
introduced to ensure that the status of coastal waters and groundwater does not dete-
riorate. Therefore, targeted catch crops are established in catchments where reduc-
tion of the nitrogen load is needed. Applicants for targeted catch crops could be all
farmers who either own or lease fields for cultivation in such catchments.
The second River Basin Management Plans (RBMPII) was adopted in June 2016.
It proposes schemes for implementation of mitigation measures, such as re-establish-
ment of riparian areas, construction of wetlands, set-aside of organic soils, afforesta-
tion and adjustment of greening elements. The national reduction target for nitrogen
in 2021 is estimated to 13,100 t N. However, the RBMPII only includes mitigation
measures to obtain an annual reduction of the marine N load of 6,900 t N in the
period 2015-2021 (SVANA 2016). The decision on which measures to initiate to reach
a further reduction in the annual nitrogen load of 6,200 t N has been postponed to
after 2021.
The N load to marine waters has been reduced incrementally along with the success-
ful implementation of measures to reduce loadings from point sources and agricul-
ture. Approximately half of the Danish land area is located within catchments
equipped with stream water gauging stations where the N load to marine areas is reg-
ularly measured (Kronvang et al., 2008). The nitrogen load for ungauged catchments
has been modelled using an empirical model (Windolf et al., 2011), and the combina-
tion of measurements and modelling shows that the total annual load to marine
waters varied between 55,000 and 59,000 t N, yielding an average of 57,000 t N for
the five years (2010-2014) used as reference level in the RBMPII (SVANA (2016),
Wiberg-Larsen (2015)). However, the calculation of this total nitrogen load to coastal
areas has been updated and now includes a higher proportion of gauged catchments
as well as an improved and more detailed calculation of discharge in ungauged catch-
ments (Thodsen et al., 2021). For the period 2015-2019, the updated calculation
yields an annual flow-normalised nitrogen load ranging between 55,000 and 66,000
t N with the highest value in 2019 following a year with drought-related low crop har-
vest. For 2020, the normalised total nitrogen load was 51,000 t N, which is the lowest
value in the monitoring period (1990-2020) (Thodsen, 2021).
The regulation and effects described in this chapter cover the period 2005-2020.
Additional agricultural regulation, such as requirement to increase the utilization
efficiency of nitrogen in manure, a reduced fertiliser application norm on soil with a
high content of organic matter and a ban on application of solid manures in autumn,
are implemented from 2020 and 2021.
20
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The remaining part of this chapter is divided into three parts:
First, the general development in agricultural practices at national level is presented
for the period 2005-2020. This analysis is based on national register datasets from
the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, i.e. the single-payment register and
the farmers’ mandatory fertiliser accounts.
Second, modelled nitrate leaching, including crop distribution and nitrogen balances,
is presented for various farm types (including those benefitting from an authorisation
of derogation) and geographical areas. The impact of derogation farms is analysed
based on a dataset derived by linking data from the single payment register, includ-
ing data on the crops on each field comprised by the farms, and the fertiliser ac-
counts. Both datasets cover agriculture in the year 2020.
Third, measurements of water quality from the National Monitoring Programme are
presented for the period 1990/91-2019/20, with particular reference to the Agricul-
tural Catchment Monitoring Programme (Blicher-Mathiesen et al., 2021). This sec-
tion includes:
Modelling of nitrate leaching in the agricultural monitoring catchments as
referred to in Article 10(3).
Measurements of nitrate and phosphorus in water leaving the root zone,
including fields receiving more than 170 kg N ha
-1
in organic manure as
referred to in Article 10(2).
Nitrogen in surface water, draining from agricultural catchments as referred
to in Article 10(2).
Modelling of nitrate leaching in this report is carried out by means of the empirical
model N-LES (version 4) (Kristensen et al., 2008). This model is partly based on data
from the Agricultural Catchment Monitoring Programme. The model requires input
data for agricultural practises (N fertilisation, cropping system), soil data and water
percolation from the root zone. Percolation is calculated using the Daisy model
(Abrahamsen & Hansen, 2000) and a standardised climate dataset from a 10 km grid
net (Danish Meteorological Institute), representing weather measurements from the
period 1990-2010. The climate dataset contains dynamic correction factors for rain-
fall (Refsgaard et al., 2011). Thus, modelled nitrate leaching represents the leaching
in a standardised climate (water percolation). In contrast, all measurements from the
Agricultural Catchment Monitoring represent nitrate leaching under the actual
climatic conditions.
So far, model-based calculations of phosphorus losses from farms benefitting from an
authorisation of derogation are not available, but measured phosphorus concentra-
tions in root zone water on fields with average application of less and more than 170
kg N ha
-1
in organic manure are presented.
4.2
Development in agricultural practices at the national level from
2005 to 2020
Crop distribution
The development in crop distribution for 2005-2020 was analysed on the basis of the single payment registra-
tion.
Figure 4.1
presents the results for cash crops, fodder crops and non-cultivated areas. The year 2005 was
the first year with single-payment, and it was anticipated that the reporting of areas for this first year would
be overestimated. Hereafter, the total reported agricultural area, including set-aside, decreased from approxi-
mately 2,757,000 ha in 2006 to 2,613,000 ha in 2020.
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The decrease in agricultural area of about 10,000 ha per year is due to road construction, afforestation, urban-
isation etc. During the years 2006-07, set-aside comprised about 160,000 ha. As from 2008, the set-aside
obligation was suspended, and in 2008 and 2009 most set-aside areas were converted to cash crops, fodder
crops and nature-like areas. Set-aside covered between 23,000 and 33,000 ha in the period 2015-2020 as set-
aside is an element in the Danish implementation of the EU Greening. The area with cash crops and fodder
crops has decreased slightly since 2012.
Catch crops
In Action Plan III, the requirement for growing catch crops was carried over from the former Action Plan,
stipulating that farmers in 2005-2009 should grow catch crops on at least 6% of the potential catch crop area
if they applied less than 80 kg organic manure N ha
-1
and on 10% of the area if they applied more than 80 kg
organic manure N ha
-1
. The potential catch crop area was defined according to crop type, including cereals,
rape, maize, turnip rape, soy, faba bean, sunflower, oil flax and other rotation crops without substantial nitro-
gen uptake in the autumn. In 2008, the requirement for growing catch crops was raised to counterbalance the
effects of the set-aside suspension. From autumn 2009, an additional catch crop area, equivalent to an extra
4% of the potential catch crop area, was implemented, yielding a total requirement for the growing of catch
crops of 10% or 14%, respectively. Hence, an adjustment was made to 10.7 and 14.7% from 2020.
During this period (2005-2010), farmers growing winter crops (wheat, rye, winter barley, oilseed rape), pre-
venting fulfilment of catch crop requirements, were granted a reduction of the required catch crop area.
From 2011, this possibility ceased.
22
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Figure 4.1 Development in crop distribution at the national level from 2005 to 2020, data from
the single payment register.
At the same time, voluntary alternatives to catch crops were introduced such as:
Reduction of the farm nitrogen fertilizer quota
Growing of special crops between harvest and sowing of winter crops
Growing catch crops on other farms
Establishment of perennial energy crops
Separation and treatment of animal manure (biogas and burning of the solid
fraction of manure)
From 2015, substitution of one ha of catch crop by four ha of set-aside near
open streams and lakes larger than 100 m
2
and located next to agricultural
areas in rotation
From 2014, substitution of one ha of catch crop by four ha of winter cereals,
if sown earlier than September 7
From 2016, substitution of one ha of catch crop by one ha of set-aside
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Data from the fertiliser accounts show that establishment of catch crops increased
from about 118,600-138,000 ha in 2005/06-2007/08 to about 505,100 ha of catch
crop equivalents in 2020/21 (Table
4.1).
The introduction and use of catch crop
alternatives were equivalent to the effect of 13,900-95,000 ha catch crops in the
period 2011/12-2020/21.
Table 4.1 Area with catch crops and catch crop alternatives (1,000 ha of catch
crop equivalents) reported by the farmers in the annual fertiliser account in the
period 2005/06-2019/20.
05/ 06/
06
07
07/
08
08/
09
09/
10
10/
11
11/
12
12/
13
13/
14
14/
15
15/
16
16/
17
17/
18
18/
19
19/
20
20/
21
Catch
crops
Catch
crop
alter-
natives
138.0 118.6
0
0
127.2
0
196.6
0
183.0 211.0 211.0 224.0
0
0 28.6
44.0
295.7 321.1 390.0
13.9 43.3
37.6
353.1
36.1
415.2
28.5
366.5
42.8
355.6
16.2
505.1
95.0
In 2017, a new regulation of animal husbandry was implemented. With this regula-
tion, additional catch crops, called “livestock catch crops”, were to be established in
certain areas on certain farms using organic fertilisers, including livestock manure.
The regulation applies only to farms cropping more than 10 ha and with the use of
organic fertiliser of > 30 kg N ha
-1
. In addition, the cropped area must be located in
catchments with an increasing use of manure or other organic fertilisers that drain
into nitrate sensitive types of nature habitats of the Natura 2000 area. Alternatively,
to specific areas selected on a voluntary basis, which drain into near coastal waters
with a need for N load reduction according to the River Basin Management Plans.
The additional catch crops in certain areas on certain farms using manure or other
organic fertilisers can replace all or a part of the need for 80% fodder crops on dero-
gation farms and catch crops grown to fulfil the EU greening requirements.
Consumption of nitrogen fertiliser and nitrogen in manure
Data on the annual use of inorganic fertilisers and the use of nitrogen in animal ma-
nure are obtained from the fertiliser accounts (Table
4.2).
The application of animal
manure N varied between 216.000 and 227.000 t N from 2005 to 2020. The use of
inorganic fertilisers amounted to about 181,000-202,000 t N year
-1
in 2005-2007
and increased to 205,000 and 209,300 t N year
-1
in 2008 and 2009, probably due to
the cultivation of previous set-aside areas. This was expected to be a temporary effect
as the procedure for setting the crop nitrogen standards implies that an increase in
agricultural area with fertiliser requirements must be followed by an equivalent
reduction in nitrogen standards. Administratively, however, this reduction is based
on statistical data on the cultivated area, resulting in a delay of two years. Thus, in
2010-2014, the use of inorganic fertilisers decreased again, reaching the same level as
in 2005-2007. The use of inorganic fertiliser increased from 210,000 t N in 2015 to
242,000, 237,000 and 224,000 t N in 2016, 2017 and 2018, respectively, after the
implementation of the Food and Agricultural Package, according to which farmers
were allowed to use more fertiliser after 2015. The lower use of inorganic fertiliser in
2018 compared to the two former years is caused by an increase in organic farming,
farms that do not use inorganic fertiliser, as well as a decrease in the cultivated area.
A change in the crop distribution with higher cover of spring cereals at the expense of
winter cereals also contribute to a lower use of inorganic fertiliser of approximately
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20,000 t N in 2018 as winter cereals have a higher N uptake, higher harvest yield and
therefore a higher economic optimal standard than spring cereals. The use of inor-
ganic fertilisers amounted to 223,000 t N in 2019, which is almost the same level as
in 2018. For the growing season 2019, farmers were recommended to apply app. 4 kg
N ha
-1
less as a significant amount of nitrogen still remained in the soil in spring due
to a very dry autumn and winter. A wet autumn in 2019 made the establishment of
winter cereals difficult. This resulted in a decrease in the 2020 winter cereal area
compared to 2019.
Table 4.2 Development in the use of inorganic nitrogen fertiliser and of nitrogen
in animal manure as reported by the farmers in the annual fertiliser accounts for
the period 2005-2020 (1,000 t N a
-1
).
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Ferti-
liser
191
Animal
manure
227
181 202 205 209
218
236 230
226
198 203
224
198
199 203
215
212
210
216
242
219
237 224 223 230
218 224
219
216
223 220
However, the use of N in inorganic fertiliser increased to 230,000 t N, partly due to a
recommended higher application rate to compensate for a low soil N content prior to
the growing season of 2020 in some parts of the country.
Modelled nitrate leaching for farm types and geographical areas
and the impact of derogation farms at the national level – 2020
data
Modelled nitrate leaching demonstrates the effect of crop distribution, nitrogen in-
put, soil type and water percolation through the soil. This section includes a presen-
tation of all of these parameters. Regarding crop distribution and nitrogen input, the
analyses are based on the national datasets from the single payment register and the
fertiliser accounts. However, before the data can be used for this purpose, a detailed
compilation of the two datasets must be made (Børgesen et al., 2009). The single
payment register contains information on crops at field-block level, and the fertiliser
accounts contain information on the use of nitrogen (inorganic fertiliser and organic
manure) at farm level. The two datasets are linked by means of the common farm
identity number or a common farm address, and the reported amounts of fertiliser
and manure from the individual accounts are distributed on the fields of each farm
according to the crop nitrogen standards. Hereby, we obtain a dataset with coherent
data on crops and nitrogen application at field level. We have no information on
grass-ley from either dataset. Therefore, we estimate this parameter based on the
area with rotation grass, assuming a conversion rate of three years. If there is not
sufficient space in the crop rotation, the area with grass-ley is reduced accordingly.
Data on catch crops are derived from the fertiliser accounts.
The field-blocks are geographically mapped, implying that each field can be linked to
soil maps and to the meteorological grid. Having established the soil type for each
field-block, the standard harvest yield may be estimated. Furthermore, nitrogen fixa-
tion is included using standard values for each crop. This final dataset now contains
all information necessary for geographically distributed computation of crop cover-
age and field nitrogen balances and for modelling nitrate leaching.
Farm type
4.3
The data are divided into three main groups of farm type – arable farms, pig farms
and cattle farms. A pig farm is defined as a farm where more than 2/3 of the used
organic N including manure originate from pigs, and a cattle farm is defined as a
Ministry of Environment of Denmark / Nitrates Directive / Derogation Report 2021
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farm where at least 2/3 of the used organic N including manure originate from cattle.
An arable farm is a farm with a production of organic fertiliser including manure of
less than 20 kg N ha
-1
. The farm may import animal manure, which will appear in the
fertiliser account and is therefore included in this analysis. Other farm types are not
included in this analysis. The area occupied by organic farms constitutes about
310,000 ha in 2020 (Landbrugsstyrelsen, 2020).
Figure 4.2
shows that arable farms and pig farms grew cereals, particularly winter
wheat, on most of the agricultural area (64 and 69%) in 2020. Other major cash
crops were oilseed rape, peas, root crops (potatoes and sugar beet) and grass for
seeds (17-24%). Cereal silage, grass and maize constituted a lesser part of the area
(4-17%). Catch crops were grown on 19-21% and newly established grass-ley on 2-4%
of the agricultural area on arable and pig farms as an autumn-winter plant cover.
Figure 4.2
:
Crop distribution for three main farm types in 2020. Combined da-
taset from the single payment register and the fertiliser status accounts.
Cattle farms have a different crop rotation. Cereals and other cash crops were grown
on 39% of the area, whereas cereal silage, grass and maize were grown on 59% of the
area. Fodder beet was grown on 1.3% of the area. In addition, grass-ley was found on
9% and catch crops on 19 % of the area.
On arable farms, an average amount of about 49 kg N ha
-1
from animal manure was
applied. For pig and cattle farms, the amounts were, respectively, 103 kg N ha
-1
and
129 kg N ha
-1
(
Table 4.3
).
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The use of inorganic fertilisers decreased with increasing application of animal ma-
nure. Total inputs of nitrogen from inorganic fertiliser, manure, other organic
sources, N fixation and atmospheric deposition amounted to 186, 215 and
259 kg N ha
-1
for arable farms, pig farms and cattle farms, respectively. N balances,
calculated as the difference between the total input of nitrogen and removal by har-
vested crops, were 75, 102 and 106 kg N ha
-1
for arable farms, pig farms and cattle
farms, respectively. As expected, modelled nitrate leaching was lower from arable
farms (on average 53 kg N ha
-1
) than from animal husbandry farms (62 kg N ha
-1
from
pig farms and 68 kg N ha
-1
from cattle farms). N leaching was, on average, 6 kg N ha
-1
higher for cattle farms compared to pig farms.
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Table 4.3 N inputs, N balances and nitrate leaching and nitrate concentration at
the bottom of the root zone for three main farm types in 2020 based on model
calculations. Combined dataset. Organic farms were not included in the analysis.
Inor-
Ani-
ganic
mal
fertiliser ma-
nure
Arable
Pigs
Cattle
Other
org.
N balance
N
N
Seeds Total
fix. depos.
input
kg N ha
-1
a
-1
Har-
vest
N bal-
ance
Root zone water
Per- Nitrate NO
3-
col. leaching conc.
mm a
-1
kg N ha
-1
mg l
-1
109
91
90
49
103
129
5.0
1.7
1.2
7.9
4.5
23.0
13
14
14
2.0
2,2
1,6
186
215
259
111
114
152
75
102
106
338
372
407
53
62
68
69
74
74
On arable farms, the modelled nitrate leaching amounted to 70% of the N balance,
which is a high value relative to the 61% calculated for pig farms and the 64% for
cattle farms. An explanation may be that leaching on these soils with low input of
organic manure is affected by mineralisation of the soil organic pool, i.e. depletion of
the total soil N content. However, the high leaching fraction may also be caused by
the uncertainties associated with the two separate calculations of the N leaching and
N balance.
Water percolation through the soil is considerably higher on cattle farms than on ara-
ble and pig farms. However, this is not due to the differences in farm type but the fact
that the cattle farms are located mainly in the western part of the country with more
sandy soil and higher rainfall and a consequently higher percolation. The higher per-
colation on cattle farms leads to dilution of the nitrate concentration in the soil water.
Thus, the modelled average nitrate concentrations in soil water were 69 and 74 mg
NO
3
l
-1
on arable and pig farms, respectively, and 74 mg NO
3
l
-1
on cattle farms for the
year 2020.
Geographical areas
Farm types are not evenly distributed throughout the country because of variations in
farming conditions. For the following analysis, Denmark has therefore been divided
into five farming regions (Figure
4.3).
28
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Figure 4.3 Farming regions in Denmark used in the analysis and the location of
the six monitored agricultural catchments.
Table 4.4
shows that Zealand is dominated by arable farming, whereas arable farm-
ing and pig production dominate Eastern (E) Jutland and Funen. Finally, North (N),
North-West (NW) and West (W) Jutland have the highest density of cattle farming.
Thus, arable and pig farms are located mainly in the eastern part of Denmark on
loamy soils and with low rainfall, whereas cattle farms are located mainly in the
northern and western parts of Denmark on sandy soils and with higher rainfall, the
rainfall increasing from north to south.
Table 4.4 Distribution of farm types and soil types in Denmark divided into five
main geographical areas – 2020.
Arable
Zealand
Jutland E
+Funen
Jutland N
Jutland NW
Jutland W
67
46
40
33
37
Pig
Cattle
Other
7
8
9
7
8
Sand
% of agricultural area
12
14
23
24
15
21
13
35
39
43
Organic
soils
% of agricultural area
4
93
3
26
71
4
79
61
75
10
33
19
11
6
6
Loam
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Figure 4.4 Crop distribution for five farming regions in Denmark in 2020. Com-
bined dataset from the single payment register and the fertiliser accounts.
The crop distribution within the five farming regions of Denmark follows the same
pattern as for farm types, i.e. mainly cereals and other cash crops on the islands and
in Eastern Jutland and cereals and fodder crops in West and North Jutland (
Figure
4.4
).
The input of nitrogen with animal manure, the total nitrogen input and the field
nitrogen balances are lowest on Zealand, higher in E Jutland and on Funen and high-
est in W, NW and N Jutland (Table
4.5).
In the latter three areas, the average nitro-
gen input varied between 213 and 232 kg N ha
-1
. The average modelled nitrate leach-
ing generally increased from east to west due to increases in nitrogen input and per-
colation. Within the three western and northern parts of Jutland, the nitrate leaching
increased from northern to southern Jutland, mainly due to increased water percola-
tion through the root zone. Higher water percolation led to dilution of the nitrate
concentrations of the soil water, resulting in an average nitrate concentration in soil
water of 82, 73, 76, 69 and 63 mg NO
3
l
-1
on Zealand, Funen + E and N Jutland, and
NW and W Jutland, respectively.
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Table 4.5 N inputs and N balances, nitrate leaching and nitrate concentration at
the bottom of the root zone (1 m) calculated for five geographical areas in Den-
mark in 2020. Combined dataset from the single payment register and the ferti-
liser accounts. Organic farms were not included in the analysis.
N balance
Inor-
Animal Other N-fix.
N-
Seeds
ganic
manure org. N
depos.
fertiliser
Total
input
Har-
vest
N bal-
ance
Root zone water
Percol.
Nitrate
leaching
NO
3-
conc
kg N ha
-1
a
-1
Zealand
Jutl. E
+Funen
Jutland N
Jutland
NW
Jutland W
83
113
4.3
14.2
16
2.0
232
134
99
81
82
99
111
2.4
0.7
15.7
13.4
14
14
1.7
1.8
213
223
121
125
92
98
123
104
34
71
3.9
3.1
8.9
9.1
11
13
1.8
1.9
183
203
116
118
67
85
mm a
-1
kg N ha
-1
mg l
-1
198
37
82
329
54
73
364
62
76
446
69
69
540
76
63
Derogation farms
Derogation farms are mainly located in N, NW and W Jutland where cattle farming is
dominant. The effect of the derogation was evaluated for these three geographical
areas. The cattle farms were grouped into four livestock density groups depending on
the application of organic N including manure: 0-100, 100-140, 140-170 kg N ha
-
1
and derogation farms with the use of organic N including manure of 170-230 kg N
ha
-1
.
The crop distributions for the three geographical areas were found to be almost iden-
tical, with some differences in crop cover between spring and winter cereals as well as
larger proportions of maize and catch crops in W Jutland (Figure
4.5).
There is a
clear trend indicating a decrease in areas with cereals and an increase in the areas
with catch crops with increasing livestock density. In addition, the area with fodder
crops increases with increasing livestock density. The area with roughage amounted
to 58, 66 and 75% for the three groups, 0-100, 100-140, 140-170 use of organic N
including manure ha
-1
, respectively, whereas derogation farms grew roughage on an
average of 88% of the area.
The effect of derogation on nitrate leaching was evaluated separately for the three ge-
ographical areas. The nitrogen input as well as the field nitrogen balances increased
with increasing livestock density (Table
4.6).
Modelled nitrate leaching is generally
a combined effect of two opposing mechanisms – an increase in leaching due to
increased nitrogen input and a decrease in leaching due to an increased area with
roughage and catch crops.
Table 4.6
shows that the modelled nitrate leaching gen-
erally increased with increasing livestock density and hence with increasing nitrogen
input. Thus, differences occurred in the modelled annual nitrogen leaching of 0, 6
and 6 kg N ha
-1
, respectively, between derogation farms and farms using 140-
170 kg N ha
-1
of N in manure and other organic fertilisers in the three Jutland regions
N, NW and W, respectively. Modelled nitrate concentrations in the soil water leaving
the root zone were 2, 6, and 4 mg NO
3
l
-1
higher for derogation farms than for cattle
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farms using 140-170 kg N ha
-1
of N in manure and other organic fertilisers in Jutland
N, NW and W, respectively.
Figure 4.5 Average crop distribution for four groups of livestock density in N, NW
and W Jutland in 2020. Combined dataset from the single payment register and
the fertiliser accounts. Organic farms were not included in the analysis.
The use of legumes (clover, alfalfa, peas) in grass and cereal silage is shown
in
Table
4.7
. The general trend is that derogation farms grow less legumes than non-deroga-
tion farms (Table
4.7).
Thus, clover or alfalfa (max. 50% share) in rotation grass was
used on 71% of the rotation grass area for derogation farms and on 76-80% for non-
derogation farms. For permanent grass including legumes, the equivalent values
were 21% for derogation farms and 21-38% for non-derogation farms. Cereal silage
with peas amounted to 13% of the silage area for derogation farms and 13-19% for
non-derogation farms.
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Table 4.6 N inputs, N balances and nitrate leaching and nitrate concentration at
the bottom of the root zone calculated for four groups of livestock densities at
cattle farms and for three geographical areas in Jutland, Denmark, 2020. Com-
bined dataset from the single payment register and the fertiliser accounts. Or-
ganic farms were not included in the analysis.
N balance
Root zone water
Region Annual use of
organic N Inorganic Animal Other N
N
Total
Nitrate NO
3-
Seeds
Harvest Balance
fertiliser manure org.N fix. depos.
input
Percol. leaching conc
kg N ha
-1
kg N ha
-1
a
-1
mm a
-1
kg N ha
-1
mg l
-1
Jutland
N
0-100
100-140
140-170
170-230
92
89
80
80
97
85
79
75
83
95
86
81
53
119
157
199
57
122
154
196
56
119
156
203
1.6
0.2
18
25
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
14
16
16
16
16
1.FS2 179
1.4
1.4
1.4
1.6
1.6
1.5
1.5
1.7
1.8
1.7
1.6
249
283
334
188
245
275
322
179
253
286
330
114
141
160
191
119
140
160
186
121
147
166
192
65
108
122
143
68
105
116
136
58
106
120
138
359
358
358
351
427
455
436
439
524
545
543
550
54
63
73
73
59
75
78
84
59
80
85
91
66
78
90
92
61
73
79
85
50
65
70
74
0.2 30
0.0 40
1.9
0.4
16
21
Jutland
NW
0-100
100-140
140-170
170-230
0.0 27
0.1
5.8
2.1
0.6
35
18
19
25
Jutland
W
0-100
100-140
140-170
170-230
0.3 29
Table 4.7 Use of legumes in grass and cereal silage at cattle farms for derogation
and non-derogation farms 2020. Organic farms were not included in the analysis.
Use of organic N, including manure (kg N ha
-1
a
-1
)
0-100
100-140
140-170
170-230
share of agricultural area (%)
Rotation grass
11.7
17.1
22.4
33.3
share of rotation grass (%)
No clover/alfalfa
< 50% clover/alfalfa
> 50% clover/alfalfa
23
76
1
20
80
0
20
80
0
29
71
0
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Table 4.7 (continued)
share of agricultural area (%)
Permanent grass
15.2
11.2
7.3
5.9
share of permanent grass (%)
No clover/alfalfa
< 50% clover/alfalfa
> 50% clover/alfalfa
62
38
0
72
28
0
79
21
0
79
21
0
share of agricultural area (%)
Cereal silage
1.3
2.9
4.2
8.1
share of cereal silage (%)
No legumes
< 50% legumes
100% legumes
86
13
1
79
19
2
82
13
5
87
13
0
4.4
Development in modelled nitrate leaching in the Agricultural
Catchment Monitoring Programme 1990-2019
This section deals with the general development in nitrate leaching from 1990/91 to
2019/2020 for measured nitrated concentrations in soil and ground water and to
2020/21 for the modelled nitrate leaching for tree loamy and two sandy agricultural-
dominated catchments. Information on agricultural practises is derived from the
Agricultural Catchment Monitoring Programme. This programme includes six small
agricultural catchments situated in various parts of the country in order to cover the
variation in soil type and rainfall and hence in agricultural practises (Figure
4.3).
The farmers are interviewed every year about livestock, crops and fertilisation and
cultivation practises. Nitrate leaching is modelled with the NLES4 model for all fields
in the catchments based on the information from farmers on agricultural practises
and standard percolation values that are calculated on the basis of the climate for
1990-2010.
In 2020, 124 farmers participated in the investigation. 84 farms agreed to give infor-
mation about part of their farming area, while 40 of the farms agreed to give infor-
mation about farming on the entire farm area. Of all the investigated farms, 24 were
cattle farms and 11 of the cattle farms agreed to give information about farming on
the entire farm area. Two of the cattle farms were registered as derogation farms.
These derogation farms covered 3.2% of the total area in the Agricultural Monitoring
Catchments in 2020.
The modelled nitrate leaching from the agricultural area in the catchments was calcu-
lated for the period 1990 to 2020 (representing the hydrological years 1990/91 to
2020/21). The modelled leaching is shown in
Figure 4.6
as an average for sandy
and loamy catchments, respectively.
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2601529_0035.png
Figure 4.6 Simulation of the nitrate leaching using the NLES4 model in a stand-
ard climate for the fields of tree loamy and two sandy catchments within the Agri-
cultural Catchment Monitoring Programme 1990/91-2020/21.
Seen relative to the distribution of the main soil types in Denmark, the modelled
nitrate leaching decreased by 43% during the period 1991 to 2003 due to the general
improvement in agriculture and fertilisation practises (Action Plan I+II) (Blicher-
Mathiesen et al., 2021 ; Grant et al., 2006). From 2003 to 2020, the modelled nitrate
leaching decreased significantly in the two sandy catchments (p<0.01 and 0.02),
whereas no significant trend could be detected in either of the loamy catchments.
For the loamy catchments, modelled annual nitrate leaching was relatively stable
around 50 kg N ha
-1
during the period 2003-2020, with the exception of the years
2014 and 2015, where the modelled annual nitrate leaching was approximately 8 kg
N ha
-1
lower than this level. For the sandy catchments, the annual leaching of 81 kg N
ha
-1
in 2003 was relatively low. After this year, the leaching increased to an interval of
81-93 kg N ha
-1
in the period 2004-2014. In the period 2015-2020, the annual leach-
ing decreased to a lower level than in 2003 (76-82 kg N ha
-1
). The lower leaching in
these five years is mainly due to a higher share of catch crops after cereals and maize.
The purpose of the root zone modelling is to show the effects of measures introduced
to mitigate nutrient losses from agriculture. The modelling is therefore carried out
for normalised growth conditions, i.e. averaging the model output for a 20-year
period: The model is run for each year in the 20-year period and model outputs are
then averaged for the period. The climatic data used cover the period 1990-2010.
Actual measurements of nitrate leaching will show higher annual variations than the
climatic average of the modelled values as the measurements depend on the actual
climate.
Certain forms of soil cultivation and ploughing of grass fields in autumn were prohib-
ited as from autumn 2011. This circumstance is not considered in the leaching model
due to lack of actual measurements that could otherwise have been applied in the
model development. It is estimated that postponed soil tillage will reduce root zone
leaching by 2,400 t N at the national level, corresponding to an average effect of
about 1 kg N ha
-1
(Børgesen et al., 2013).
4.5
Measurements of nitrate in water leaving the root zone
In five of the six Agricultural Monitoring Catchments, soil water samples are col-
lected regularly at 30 sites. One of the sites is covered by forest and is therefore not
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included in the data on nitrate concentrations measured in agricultural areas. Meas-
urements were ceased on a sandy site in 2011 as the farmers did not want to partici-
pate in the monitoring. Two sites on a loamy catchment are located very close to the
edge of the field, and tractor transport in and out of the fields, results in high damage
to crops, possible uneven fertiliser application and very high values of measured ni-
trate leaching in some of the monitored years. Out of the remaining 27 sites on agri-
cultural areas, 14 are located on loamy soils and 13 on sandy soils, and the data on
these are considered valid for use in the trend analysis of the loamy and sandy catch-
ments. The samples represent the root zone water (approx. 1 m depth – 30 samples
per year) and the upper oxic groundwater (1.5-5 m depth – 6 samples per year).
To obtain an annual representative value for the nitrate leaching, the measured ni-
trate concentration is multiplied by the percolation in the sampling period. Samples
are taken weekly in periods with percolation (autumn, winter and spring) and
monthly in summer time when percolation is scarce or zero. Percolation values are
modelled as measurements of soil water content and flow in soil, covering soil varia-
bility at field level, are difficult to perform (Blicher-Mathiesen et al., 2014). The an-
nual flow-weighted nitrate concentration is calculated by dividing the annual percola-
tion by the annual nitrate leaching.
Since the publication of the annual derogation report for 2018, inconsistencies in the
precipitation time series have been detected. These inconsistencies affect the
reported flow-weighted concentrations as the precipitation time series are used for
the calculation of percolation. Specifically, it was found that the relation between pre-
cipitation and stream runoff in the monitoring catchments was inconsistent before
and after 2010, respectively. The precipitation is measured at several rain gauge sta-
tions and distributed to cover 10x10 km
2
grids by the Danish Meteorological Institute
(DMI). The type of rain gauge station was changed from 2011, and also the number of
stations decreased significantly. This explains some of the inconsistency related to
measured discharge. DMI has delivered new precipitation data for the period after
2010, but all inconsistency in the data has not yet been resolved. In order to address
the possible bias or inconsistency in the precipitation time series, we included an
uncertainty in the precipitation data, which is reflected in the calculated percolation
and flow-weighted nitrate concentration. This uncertainty was derived from an anal-
ysis of radar-detected precipitation in five subplots within ten precipitation grids of
10x10 km
2
. The standard error bars on the flow-weighted nitrate concentration in
Figure 4.7
and
Figure 4.10
represent this uncertainty from variation in precipitation
on field level but tabulated as an average uncertainty from ten precipitation grids
(Blicher-Mathiesen et al., 2021).
The flow-weighted nitrate concentrations are shown as annual average values for
loamy and sandy soils, respectively, for the period 1990/91-2019/20 (
Figure 4.7
).
Generally, measured data on nitrate leaching from the root zone at only 27 sites can-
not be used directly for estimating the effect of a single variable as the input of ferti-
liser or manure because of the high variability in actual fertiliser and manure practice
and climate between the monitoring fields and the measured years. Instead, the
measured nitrate leaching data, together with other leaching data, were used for the
development of the nitrate leaching model, N-LES4, which was subsequently used for
calculating the leaching from all the fields in the catchments relative to agricultural
practises.
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Figure 4.7 Annual flow-weighted nitrate concentrations measured in root zone water (1 m below
ground level) and annual average nitrate concentrations measured in upper oxic groundwater (1.5-
5 m below ground level), the Agricultural Catchment Monitoring Programme 1990/91-2019/20. Er-
ror bars indicate variation in percolation as precipitation variated on local scale within a DMI 10 x
10 km
2
precipitation grid.
General trend for nitrate concentrations in water leaving the root zone
There is strong inter-annual variation in the measured nitrate concentrations due to
differences in rainfall and temperature. Therefore, a long time series and a large
number of measuring points are needed to detect any statistically significant trend.
Such data series are available from the Danish Monitoring Programme. A statistical
trend analysis – a Mann-Kendall test, incorporating annual variations in the mean
annual flow-weighted nitrate concentrations for water leaving the root zone –
showed that concentrations decreased significantly by 1.2 and 2.6 mg NO
3
l
-1
a
-1
for
the measured sites on loamy and sandy soils, respectively, and for the whole 26-year
monitoring period from 1990/91 to 2015/16.
In loamy catchments, the measured nitrate concentrations in root zone water
decreased from 61-155 mg NO
3
l
-1
in the 5-year period 1990/91-1994/95 to 37-66
mg NO
3
l
-1
in the 5-year period 2011/12-2015/16. After this period, the concentrations
were 72, 48, 107 and 48 mg NO
3
l
-1
in the four years 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19 and
2019/20, respectively. The high nitrate concentrations are seen in years with low per-
colation– as observed on loamy soils in 2004/05, 2010/11, in 2016/17 and in
2018/19. In sandy catchments, the nitrate concentration decreased from 73-192
mg NO
3
l
-1
in the 5-year period 1990/91-1994/95 to 54-73 mg NO
3
l
-1
in the 5-year
period 2011/12-2015/16 and were 93, 79, 99 and 57 mg NO
3
l
-1
the four years
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2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20, respectively (
Figure 4.7
). Low nitrate con-
centrations were measured in 2019/20 due very high percolation diluting the nitrate
in the root zone.
After 2003/04 (Action Plan III + Green Growth), no statistically significant change in
measured nitrate concentrations in soil water leaving the root zone has been rec-
orded. However, before 2011/12, high concentrations were temporarily observed for
sandy soils. This is most likely due to growth of crops with high leaching potential on
these fields, such as turnover of grassland followed by cereals with no catch crops the
following years, growing of maize and winter rape etc.
It should be noted that the measurements of nitrate leaching originate from a small
number of sampling stations (27 stations). Furthermore, the measurements are
affected by high crop yields, in particular in 2009, and effects of crop rotation, espe-
cially of grass in rotation. These conditions induce higher inter-annual variations
than seen in the average modelled nitrate leaching, which covers a larger area includ-
ing approx. 124 farms.
In the upper groundwater (1.5-5.0 m below ground level), nitrate concentrations
were lower than in the root zone water, indicating nitrate reduction in the aquifer
between the bottom of the root zone and the uppermost groundwater (
Figure 4.7
).
In loamy catchments, the measured annual mean of nitrate concentrations in the
upper oxic groundwater decreased from 41-47 mg NO
3
l
-1
in the 5-year period
1990/91-1994/95 to 28-38 mg NO
3
l
-1
in the 5-year period 2015/16-2019/20. In sandy
catchments, the nitrate concentration decreased from 87-112 mg NO
3
l
-1
in the 5-year
period 1990/91-1994/95 to 59-77 mg NO
3
l
-1
in the 5-year period 2015/16-2019/20.
Nitrate concentrations in water leaving the root zone from cattle farms with
manure N applications below and above 170 kg N ha
-1
.
Two to three of the monitoring sites received an average between 130 and 170 kg
organic manure N ha
-1
in the period 2000/01 -2019/20, and four to six sites received
an average of more than 170 kg organic manure N ha
-1
. Measurements of nitrate in
water leaving the root zone are shown annually for each site for the period 2000/01-
2019/20 (
Figure 4.8A
and
B
).
At one of the sites, station “st 604”, the manure input changed from a high annual in-
put (>170 kg N ha
-1
) in the period 2000-2008 to a lower input (<170 kg N ha
-1
) in the
following years (
Figure 4.8A
and
B
). With an annual average manure application of
more than 170 kg N ha
-1
, nitrate concentrations were very high at “st 604”. This is
seen in five out of six years between 2004/05 and 2009/10. However, other sites
with manure applications of 170-230 kg N ha
-1
had relatively lower soil water concen-
trations (
Figure 4.8B
). Suction cups at site “st 203” were re-established in 2012,
which entails that no nitrate concentration measurements in the root zone were
available for this site in 2012/13 and 2013/14. However, manure application on “st
203” increased to >170 kg N ha
-1
, on average, for a five year period monitored from
2012 and onwards. The annual manure application at site “st 202” changed to a much
lower level from 2014, and the nitrate concentration in the root zone water is there-
fore included in
Figure 4.8A
and
B
from 2014 and onwards. For the site “st 206”. The
average five-year manure input increased from <130 kg N ha
-1
to >170 kg N ha
-1
in
2013 and is included in
Figure 4.8A
and
B
. Manure application changed to a higher
level for “st 608” in 2019/20. The relatively low nitrate concentration of 0.01 mg Ni-
trate l
-1
is therefore shown in
Figure 4.8B
with 170-230 kg N ha
-1
for this year. In
2019/20, “st 203 received no manure input, and no nitrate concentration is therefore
shown for this year in.
Figure 4.8B
. The manure application at site “st 201” increased
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Ministry of Environment of Denmark / Nitrates Directive / Derogation Report 2021
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2601529_0039.png
from 2013 and is included in
Figure 4.8B
and
D
from this year. At one site, “st 406”,
the farmer stopped livestock production from 2017, and this site is therefore not in-
cluded in the data from this year and onwards in
Figure 4.8
.
The average flow-weighted nitrate concentrations in root zone water at four-five spe-
cific sites with an average manure application within 170-230 kg N ha
-1
varied
between 64 and 103 mg NO
3
l
-1
for the recent five hydrological years (2015/16-
2019/20) (
Figure 4.8D
).
The average flow-weighted nitrate concentrations in root zone water at two-three
specific sites with an average manure application within 140-170 kg N ha
-1
varied
between 40 and 135 mg NO
3
l
-1
for the recent five hydrological years (2015/16-
2019/20) (
Figure 4.8C
). Thus, there was no clear difference in flow-weighted nitrate
concentration between monitored fields with application of 140-170 kg N ha
-1
and
170-230 kg N ha
-1
in manures.
Ma
Figure 4.8 Measured nitrate concentrations in root zone water (1 m depth) with average application of
130-170 N ha
-1
(A) and more than 170 kg N ha
-1
in manure and other organic fertilisers (B) at the sites
(average application of organic manure N is shown in brackets). Annual averages for the measured sta-
tions, average application of 130-170 kg ha
-1
(C) and more than 170 kg N ha
-1
in manure and other organic
fertilisers (D). All data from the period 2000/01-2019/20 are shown.
Annual variations in measured concentrations at the individual monitoring stations
were expected, partly due to crop rotation and variations in yield and meteorological
conditions.
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The sites that annually received an average of 130-170 kg N in manure ha
-1
in the
period 2000/01-2019/20 had high average nitrate concentrations in the six years
2005/06, 2008/09-2010/11, 2013/14 and 2015/16-2018/19 (
Figure 4.8
).
High nitrate concentrations are most likely a result of crop rotation, especially turno-
ver of clover grass in rotation, followed by cereals without catch crops or high N input
to maize, and they cannot be linked to the level of manure input alone.
Phosphorus concentrations in the water leaving the root zone are shown in
Figure
4.9.
Generally, the concentrations varied between 0.005 and 0.050 mg PO
4
-P l
-1
, ir-
respective of the use of organic manure. However, in one field receiving an average of
148 kg organic N ha
-1
(“st 608”), P concentrations were much more variable. The soil
texture in this field is coarse sand, and it is located in an area with high rainfall.
Figure 4.9 Measured phosphorus concentrations as dissolved orthophosphate (PO
4
-P) at soil water sta-
tions (1 m depth) with average application of 130-170 (A) and more than 170 kg organic N ha
-1
(B) at the
sites (average application of organic manure N is shown in brackets). All data for the period 2000/01-
2019/20 are shown.
4.6
The nitrogen flow to surface water in agricultural catchments
This chapter gives an overview of the nitrogen pathways in the hydrological cycle and
describes the trends for nitrate in water for the period 1990-2020. Continued moni-
toring within the framework of the Agricultural Catchment Programme and the
Stream Programme will provide indicators for the future development.
When percolating water leaves the root zone, it can conceptually be partitioned into a
component that discharges directly to surface water and a component that discharges
to groundwater from where it will eventually – often some years later – discharge
into the streams. In Denmark, the pathways for water and nutrients in agricultural
catchments are analysed in the Agricultural Catchment Monitoring Programme.
Nitrate concentrations are measured in soil water, water from tile drains, upper
groundwater and surface water from three loamy catchments and two sandy catch-
ments.
The monitoring programme does not allow a specific evaluation of the effect of dero-
gation farms on the nitrate transport in the streams since measurements at the catch-
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ment outlet integrate the effects of all activities in the catchment. However, the moni-
toring programme will provide an overview of the general trend for surface water,
including the effect of any derogation farms in the catchment.
The hydrological pathways
An analysis of the water flow in the streams of the five agricultural catchments has
shown that it can be conceptually divided into three components – rapid, intermedi-
ate and slow response to precipitation (Figure
4.
8
) (Blicher-Mathiesen et al., 2021).
These components may be regarded as flow from the upper soil layers (including tile
drainage), from the upper oxic groundwater and from deep reduced groundwater.
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2601529_0042.png
Table 4.8 Partitioning of water flow in streams into three components – rapid, in-
termediate and slow responding water. The analysis included three loamy catch-
ments and two sandy catchments (1989/90-2002/03).
Flow response
Rapid
Loamy catchments
Sandy catchments
41%
20%
Intermediate
16%
23%
Slow
43%
57%
Figure 4.10 Measured means of nitrate concentrations in the hydrological cycle in
three loamy catchments and two sandy catchments included in the Agricultural
Catchment Monitoring Programme. Stream values for the two sandy catchments
are means, and data on the two individual stream outlets are given in brackets.
For the three loamy catchments, mean, min. and max. values are given in brack-
ets. The values are calculated as an annual mean for the period 2015/16-2019/20.
In loamy catchments, the flow path is characterised by relatively rapidly responding
water (from upper soil layers), whereas there is a larger proportion of slowly
responding water (from deeper groundwater) in sandy catchments (
Figure 4.10
)
(Blicher-Mathiesen et al., 2021).
Figure 4.11
illustrates measurements of nitrate concentrations (mg NO3 l
-1
) in soil
root zone water, upper oxic groundwater (1.5-5 m below ground level) and in
streams. When water percolates from the root zone to the upper groundwater, deni-
trification processes take place. Thus, nitrate concentrations in the upper groundwa-
ter are lower than in the root zone water. When the water passes through the deeper
aquifers, it will usually reach the deepest redox interface where the remaining nitrate
will be removed by biological and geo-chemical reduction processes.
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2601529_0043.png
Figure 4.11 Nitrate concentrations measured in root zone water, upper
groundwater and in streams for three loamy catchments and two sandy
catchments according to the Agricultural Catchment Monitoring Pro-
gramme, 1990/91-2019/20.
As streams in sandy catchments are dominated by deeper groundwater flow, the
groundwater discharging to the streams has often been exposed to reduction pro-
cesses. Thus, nitrate concentrations in the stream water are relatively low. In loamy
catchments, the discharging water has mainly passed through the upper soil layers
and through the drainage system where there is less nitrate reduction. Hence, nitrate
concentrations in the streams on loamy soils are higher than in sandy catchments.
In this context, it should be noted that cattle farms, i.e. the derogations farms, are
mainly located in the western and northern parts of Jutland that are characterised by
sandy soils and deep groundwater flow, leading to high nitrate removal and lower
nitrogen concentrations in the streams.
Trends in nitrate concentrations in the hydrological cycle
The development in nitrate concentrations in root zone water, upper oxic groundwa-
ter and stream water is shown in
Figure 4.11.
Statistical analyses incorporating the
annual variations showed that the nitrate concentration in water leaving the root
zone decreased significantly by 1.2 and 2.6 mg NO
3
l
-1
a
-1
at the measured sites on
loamy and sandy soils, respectively, for the 26-year monitoring period from 1990/91
to 2015/16. However, as mentioned before, nitrate concentrations were 72, 48, 107
and 48 mg NO
3
l
-1
in the four years 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20, respec-
tively, on loamy soils and 93, 79, 99 and 57 mg NO
3
l
-1
in the corresponding four
years, respectively, on sandy soils (see section 4.5). In the Stream Monitoring Pro-
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gramme, the development is analysed for a larger number of streams. This pro-
gramme reported that during the period 1989-2020, in 49 agriculturally dominated
catchments representing both loamy and sandy soils, there was an average reduction
of 51% (95% confidence interval: 47-55) of the total nitrogen transport (Thodsen et
al., 2021).
References
Blicher-Mathiesen, G., Houlborg, T., Petersen, R.J., Rolighed, J., Andersen, H.E.,
Jensen, P.G., Wienke, J., Hansen, B. & Thorling, L. (2021). Landovervågningsop-
lande 2020. NOVANA. Aarhus Universitet, DCE – Nationalt Center for Miljø og
Energi, 262 s. - Videnskabelig rapport nr., 472
Blicher-Mathiesen, G., Andersen, H.E. & Larsen, S.E. (2014). Nitrogen field balances
and suction cup-measured N leaching in Danish catchments. Agriculture, Ecosystems
and Environment 196, 69-75.
Grant, R., Nielsen, K. & Waagepetersen, J. (2006) Reducing nitrogen loading of in-
land and marine waters – evaluation of Danish policy measures to reduce nitrogen
loss from farmland. Ambio 35, 117-123.
Kristensen, K., Waagepetersen, J., Børgesen, C.D., Vinther, F.P., Grant, R. & Blicher-
Mathiesen, G. (2008).
Reestimation and further development in the model N-
LES - N-LES
3
to N-LES
4
. DJF Plant Science No. 139.
Kronvang, B., Andersen, H.E., Børgesen, C., Dalgaard, T., Larsen, S.E., Bøgestrand, J.
& Blicher-Mathiasen, G., (2008). Effects of policy measures implemented in
Denmark on nitrogen pollution of the aquatic environment. Environmental Science &
Policy 11, 144-152.
Landbrugsstyrelsen (2020). Statistik over økologiske jordbrugsbedrifter 2020.
Landbrugsstyrelsen, Ministeriet for Fødevarer, Landbrug og Fiskeri.
https://lbst.dk/fileadmin/user_upload/NaturErhverv/Filer/Tvaergaaende/Oekologi
/Statistik/Statistik_over_oekologiske_jordbrugsbedrifter_2020_.pdf
Thodsen, H., Tornbjerg, H., Bøgestrand, J., Larsen, S.E., Ovesen, N.B., Blicher-
Mathiesen, G., Rolighed, J., Holm, H. & Kjeldgaard, A. 2021. Vandløb 2019 - Kemisk
vandkvalitet og stoftransport. NOVANA. Aarhus Universitet, DCE – Nationalt Center
for Miljø og Energi, 74 s. - Videnskabelig rapport nr. 452
SVANA (2016). Vandområdeplaner 2015-2021. Styrelsen for Vand og
Naturforvaltning. Miljø- og Fødevareministeriet. https://mst.dk/natur-
vand/vandmiljoe/vandomraadeplaner/vandomraadeplaner-2015-
2021/vandomraadeplaner-2015-2021/
Wiberg-Larsen, P., Windolf, J., Bøgestrand, J., Larsen, S.E., Thodsen, H., Ovesen,
N.B., Bjerring, R., Kronvang, B. & Kjeldgaard, A. (2015). Vandløb 2013. NOVANA.
Aarhus Universitet, DCE – Nationalt Center for Miljø og Energi, 50 s. - Videnskabelig
rapport fra DCE - Nationalt Center for Miljø og Energi nr. 121
http://dce2.au.dk/pub/SR121.pdf
Windolf, J., Larsen, S.E., Thodsen, H., Bøgestrand, J., Ovesen, N. & Kronvang, B.
(2011). A distributed modelling system for simulation of monthly runoff and nitrogen
sources, loads and sinks for ungauged catchments in Denmark. Journal of Environ-
mental Monitoring 13, 2645-2658.
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5.
Reinforced monitoring in areas characterized by sandy
soils
This chapter is based on selected data from the National Monitoring Programme of
Water and Nature (NOVANA), provided by the Danish Environmental Protection
Agency, and data on derogation farm location, provided by the Danish Agricultural
Agency.
5.1
Introduction
Prior to 2018, data on water quality in the derogation report was based on data from
the national agricultural catchment monitoring programme. This programme com-
bines detailed information on both agricultural practice and crop rotation as well as
data on water quality in root zone water, uppermost groundwater and small local
streams. Monitoring takes place in five agricultural catchments throughout the coun-
try, of which three are located in parts of Denmark characterized by loamy soils and
two in the western part, where sandy soils predominate. The latest, relevant results
from the programme are reported in chapter 4 of this report.
Due to the limited size of the area monitored within the national agricultural catch-
ment monitoring programme, only very few derogation farms are located in the five
catchments. The majority of derogation farms are found in the western part of Den-
mark, especially in the western part of middle and southern Jutland, as shown on the
maps in chapter 2 of this report. This part of Denmark is also characterized by pre-
dominantly sandy soils.
The derogation decision from 2017 (2017/847/EU) introduced the requirement that
water quality should be reported using data from reinforced monitoring. The rein-
forced monitoring is carried out on sandy soils and in an area that comprises fields
belonging to at least 3% of all derogation farms. The derogation decision from 2018
(2018/1928/EU) and the latest derogation decision from 2020 (2020/1074/EU)
specifies in Article 10 (2) that, in addition to the monitoring obligations in prior dero-
gation decisions, "[...]
Reinforced monitoring of water quality shall be carried out in
areas with sandy soils. In addition, nitrates concentrations in surface and ground-
water shall be monitored in at least 3 % of all holdings covered by an authorisa-
tion."
5.2
Method
Selection of relevant monitoring stations
Besides the results from the national agricultural catchment monitoring programme
(see chapter 4), which previously has formed the basis for annual reporting according
to the derogation decision, Danish authorities also collect data through a number of
other national monitoring programmes. As part of the “National Monitoring Pro-
gramme of Water and Nature” (NOVANA), data from approximately 500 water qual-
ity stations in streams and rivers are collected on a regular basis. The primary pur-
pose is to determine nutrient loads to sensitive recipients, i.e., coastal waters and
lakes. Water samples from more than 1,000 groundwater monitoring stations are
also analysed on a regular basis; the sampling frequency varies from several times
annually to once during a multi-year period, according to the monitoring and report-
ing requirements of the Nitrates Directive and the Water Framework Directive.
One of the usual parameters that both groundwater and surface water samples are
analysed for is nitrate concentration.
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Simultaneously, the Danish Agricultural Agency registers which fields belong to dero-
gation farms.
The approach is based on the identification of either surface water or groundwater
monitoring stations located in close proximity to a field belonging to a derogation
farm. More precisely, the GIS-analysis is based on the coordinates of the surface
water or groundwater monitoring station as well as the surrounding area within a
fixed 15-metre radius. This circle allows for an overlap between the position of the
monitoring station and any fields in close proximity.
Only water course and groundwater monitoring stations located within 15 metres of a
field registered to a derogation farm are selected. To determine whether this criterion
is met, the latest registry data from the Danish Agricultural Agency is used.
If a groundwater monitoring well fulfils the location criterion but contains several
monitoring stations at different depth (“multi-filter wells”), only one of these stations
is selected; typically, the station that has the largest number of prior nitrate concen-
tration samples.
Groundwater monitoring stations at a depth of 80 metres or more have been
excluded from the data set, as data from the national groundwater monitoring
(“GRUMO”) programme shows that nitrate levels are no longer quantifiable
(<1 mg/L) at these depths.
Only surface water monitoring stations that are part of the national programme mon-
itoring “Transport of nutrients in streams” have been considered for the reinforced
monitoring. A few mobile stations used for lake monitoring that would have fulfilled
the proximity criterion have been excluded from the data set, as their locations typi-
cally change every year, making it impossible to create time series. Monitoring sta-
tions that have been installed in water courses to monitor the outflow from con-
structed wetlands have also been excluded.
In all, this selection method has identified a total of 38 monitoring stations. 20 sta-
tions of these (53 %) are groundwater monitoring stations, while 18 stations (47 %)
are located in water courses (
Figure 5.1
). The distribution between station types is a
direct consequence of the higher density of groundwater as opposed to surface water
monitoring stations throughout Denmark.
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2601529_0047.png
Figure 5.1: Map showing the locations of the 38 monitoring stations selected as
the reporting basis for the reinforced monitoring. The squares show the location
of in total 20 groundwater monitoring stations at different depths – these may
overlap due to the scale of the map. The circles show the location of the 18 water
course monitoring stations. Grey shading indicates all fields belonging to Danish
derogation farms.
The majority of derogation farms are located in the western part of Denmark, espe-
cially the western, northern and southern parts of the peninsula of Jutland, also illus-
trated in chapter 2 of this report. These parts of the country are characterized by
sandy soils, whereas loamier soils dominate the more eastern parts of the country.
Consequently, the described approach of linking the locations of monitoring stations
to fields belonging to derogation farms results in a considerable enlargement of the
data basis for reporting of water quality in sandy areas.
The geological map in
Figure 5.2
below illustrates the soil substrates throughout
Denmark.
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2601529_0048.png
Figure 5.2 Geological map of Denmark showing the substrates that are the basis
for soil development. Modified from a map produced by GEUS. The legend is only
available in Danish, but the four main soil substrate types that can be categorized
as “sand” have been marked with an “S” in the legend.
Coverage of Danish derogation farms
The locations of the 38 monitoring stations have been linked to 66 fields, which in
turn belong to 41 different derogation farms. Out of the 41 farms, 20 are subject to
the reinforced monitoring due to the proximity of their fields to a water course moni-
toring station, while 20 farms are included owing to proximity to groundwater moni-
toring stations. One farm was included due to proximity to both a water course and a
groundwater monitoring station. The total number of farms encompassed by the re-
inforced monitoring corresponds to 3.4 % of all holdings that make use of the deroga-
tion.
5.3
Characterization of monitoring stations and data analysis
Groundwater
The selected groundwater monitoring stations are located at depths below the surface
ranging from 1.75 m to 72 m
8
. The majority of the stations monitor water quality in
comparatively shallow groundwater, at an average depth of 19.92 m and a median
depth of 15.50 m. Of the selected groundwater monitoring stations, 32 % of the sam-
ples are of very shallow groundwater from a depth of less than 10 m. 37 % are located
8
Based on data available up until 2018, the deepest selected monitoring station was located at 62 m be-
low the surface. Data from the deeper groundwater is expected to be included in future reports, when wa-
ter from these selected stations will be sampled and analysed for nitrate again.
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from 10-20 metre below surface and the rest 32 % of the stations are located from
20-80 metres.
All of the groundwater monitoring stations will be sampled at least once per year.
Historic data since 2002 – the year Denmark obtained a derogation from the Nitrates
Directive for the first time – have been included to the extent that they are available.
If groundwater has been sampled more than once per year, the average annual
nitrate concentration has been calculated for this station for each respective sampling
year.
For the purpose of presenting the data in the results section below, the stations have
been grouped into three different categories, stations at a depth of less than 10 m
below surface, stations at 10 to almost 20 m depth and stations at 20 m depth or
deeper. Annual average nitrate concentrations have been calculated for each depth
category for each year since 2002, based on the actual number of stations sampled in
the respective year.
Surface water
The monitored water courses vary considerably in size and flow rate. The widths of
the water courses at the monitoring station vary from 2 m to 10.5 m. The average wa-
ter course width at the monitoring station is 6 metres, while 7 out of the 18 stations
are located in small streams of less than 5 metres’ width.
Samples from water courses are generally analysed for Nitrite- and Nitrate-Nitrogen
(N). Nitrite-N-concentrations are typically negligible, and under this assumption,
nitrate concentrations in the water samples could be calculated by multiplying the
Nitrate-N concentration by a factor of 4.4268. In this chapter, the surface water con-
centration is generally given in Nitrite- and Nitrate-Nitrogen. Historic data since
2002 is included to the extent that it is available. Only data from monitoring stations
that have been sampled at least 9 times annually in the period before 2017 are dis-
played in the results. In 2020, each water course monitoring station has been sam-
pled more frequently, from 16 to 21 times annually.
For the purpose of presenting the data in the results section, stations have been
grouped based on the approximate width of the water course at the sampling station
site into three different categories, as also displayed in
Figure 5.1:
less than 5 m, 5 to
10 m and more than 10 m width. Average nitrate concentrations have been calculated
for each category for each year since 2002, based on the actual number of stations
sampled in the respective year.
As a consequence of the political agreement on the Food and Agricultural Package
from December 2015, the number of water course monitoring stations has been sig-
nificantly increased. 9 out of the 18 water course stations selected for the reinforced
monitoring were established in 2016 as a consequence of the agreement, and now, it
is decided to continue the monitoring.
5.4
Results and Discussion
Groundwater
Figure 5.3
shows the nitrate concentration of each groundwater monitoring station
selected for reinforced monitoring, as well as the average nitrate concentrations per
sampling year for the period 2002 to 2020 for each of the depth categories. The qual-
ity limit value of 50 mg nitrate per litre is also shown.
Ministry of Environment of Denmark / Nitrates Directive / Derogation Report 2021
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The data generally shows great variability in nitrate concentrations from one year to
another in water samples from individual monitoring stations. Especially in the shal-
lowest groundwater (
Figure 5.3A
), absolute concentration changes of up to more
than 80 mg nitrate per litre can be observed from one sampling year to the other.
The average nitrate concentration remains below the quality limit value for each
depth category throughout the whole period 2002 until 2020, with the exception of
2010 for the deepest category. However, this value is only based on two monitoring
stations.
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Figure 5.3: Nitrate concentration of the individual groundwater monitoring sta-
tions selected for the reinforced monitoring, as well as the average nitrate con-
centrations per sampling year for the period 2002 to 2020 for each of the three
depth categories of groundwater stations: (A) stations at less than 10 m depth;
(B) stations at 10-20 m depth and (C) stations at 20 m depth and deeper below the
surface. A red dashed line at 50 mg nitrate per litre is inserted in each figure.
No clear trend in the average nitrate concentration can be observed over time for any
of the three depth categories. Due to the limited number of stations and samples per
year, the annual average values are highly influenced by the variability in nitrate con-
centration in the water sampled from some individual stations.
Table 5.1
shows the average nitrate concentration of all stations for each year in the
period 2002 to 2020, irrespective of their depth and the number of stations sampled
(n) in the respective year that form the basis of this calculation. The annual average
nitrate concentration varies between 20.9 mg/L, as sampled in 2003 (n=11), and
41.9 mg/L in the groundwater samples from 2009 (n=13).
Table 5.1: Annual average nitrate concentration of all stations in reinforced mon-
itoring in the period 2002-2020 and number of stations sampled
Sampling
year
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Average nitrate
concentration
[mg/L]
29.2
20.9
27.0
37.0
38.1
37.8
32.1
41.9
40.7
28.7
28.8
29.2
28.8
35.1
35.2
31.9
30.5
26.9
27.2
Number of sampled
stations (n)
11
11
10
18
18
18
16
13
13
18
23
18
23
21
22
26
29
28
19
When calculated across the entire period from 2002 to 2020, the (non-weighted)
mean value of the annual average concentrations is 32.2 mg/L. The 2020 average is
lower than the mean value for the whole 2002-2020 period.
Surface water
Figure 5.4
shows the Nitrite- and Nitrate-Nitrogen concentration of the individual
Ministry of Environment of Denmark / Nitrates Directive / Derogation Report 2021
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water course monitoring stations selected for reinforced monitoring, as well as the
average nitrate concentrations per sampling year for the period 2002 to 2021 for
each of the width categories. The quality limit value for groundwater of 50 mg nitrate
per litre, which corresponds to approximately 11.3 mg Nitrate-N per litre, is also
shown.
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Figure 5.4: Nitrite- +Nitrate-Nitrogen (N) concentration of the individual surface
water monitoring stations selected for reinforced monitoring, as well as the aver-
age nitrate concentrations per sampling year for the period 2002 to 2021 for each
of the three width categories (determined at sampling site): (A) less than 5 m
wide; (B) 5 to 10 m wide and (C) wider than 10 m. A red dashed line is inserted in
each figure at 11.3 mg Nitrate-N/L, corresponding to approx. 50 mg nitrate per li-
tre.
At the level of the individual monitoring station, nitrite- + nitrate-nitrogen concen-
trations can vary significantly from year to year mainly due to variation in amount
and timing of precipitation. The standard deviation in absolute concentration are
1.84 mg/l. Nevertheless the year-to-year variations are not as pronounced as those
seen in groundwater samples.
For all water course categories it is, however, important to underline that the N
transport is not determined by the nitrogen concentration alone, but also by the wa-
ter flow in the water course, which can significantly vary due to the specific and local
weather conditions of a given year. In low flow rate situations, nitrogen levels may be
relatively high while total N transport remains unchanged, and vice versa. As smaller
water courses typically have a smaller catchment area than rivers, variations in local
weather conditions are expected to have a greater impact on the nitrogen concentra-
tion in water sampled from small water courses.
For all individual water course monitoring stations, nitrate-N concentrations remain
well below the quality limit for groundwater and drinking water throughout the
whole period from 2002 to 2020. Absolute concentrations tend to be higher in the
smaller water courses than in the larger ones, which is likely to be a result of nitrate
being removed through natural processes along the course of the water. Overall, the
annual average for each category has been steadily decreasing over the last 10 years
of the period shown.
Table 5.2
shows the annual average nitrite- and nitrate-N concentration in water
sampled at all water course stations – irrespective of their width – and the number of
stations sampled in the respective year (n).
Table 5.2: Annual average nitrite- + nitrate-N concentration in water sampled at
all stations selected for reinforced monitoring, as well as the number of stations
sampled in each year
Sam-
pling
year
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
Average nitrite- +ni-
trate-N concentration
[mg/L]
4.1
3.8
4.4
4.0
4.4
4.1
3.9
3.9
3.8
3.3
3.4
3.4
Number of sam-
pled stations (n)
5
5
7
7
10
10
10
10
10
11
11
11
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2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
3.3
3.3
3.3
3.0
3.0
11
11
11
20
20
2019
2.9
18
2020
3.3
18
The annual average nitrite- + nitrate-N concentration has decreased from 4.4 mg/L
in the early years of the reported period (e.g. 2006, n=10) down to 3.3 mg/L in 2016
(n=11). Since 2017, 9 additional water course monitoring stations have been estab-
lished, improving the data basis significantly. Hence, it is now possible to follow the
development in water courses, which have been equipped with new monitoring sta-
tions as a consequence of the political agreement on the Food and Agricultural Pack-
age from December 2015. Despite the significant increase in number of monitoring
stations, which are considered in the reinforced monitoring, the average nitrite- + ni-
trate-nitrogen concentrations for the different water course categories remains fairly
constant. The average concentration in 2020 for all water course stations was
3.3 mg/L, i.e. at the same level as in 2016.
General discussion
It is important to highlight that the reinforced monitoring does not provide data that
can be used to examine any potential effect on water quality that might be the result
of the use of the derogation. A range of other fluctuating factors influence nutrient
concentrations in the aquatic environment, and as such, it would not be possible to
identify or isolate such an effect.
Because the reinforced monitoring method is based on linking the locations of moni-
toring stations to fields belonging to derogation farms in a two-dimensional way: The
approach does not account for the actual catchment area and subsurface water paths
for the respective monitoring stations. Hence, it is only to a very limited degree possi-
ble to get a picture of the effects of land use on surface water and groundwater qual-
ity. A clearer picture would require a catchment-based approach, which takes into ac-
count that water quality in the recipient water is affected by land use in the whole
catchment area.
The present method does not include a reference group of monitoring stations that
are not located in proximity to fields belonging to derogation farms. However, by in-
cluding the data from this selected set of the surface water and groundwater monitor-
ing stations, the data basis for water quality in sandy areas has been considerably en-
larged from the two sandy catchments within the national agricultural catchment
monitoring programme (see chapter 4), which formed the basis for reporting prior to
2018 and still provides comprehensive data on land use at farm-level.
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6.
Indicator and monitoring system for application of
phosphorus in Denmark
Ministry of Environment of Denmark
6.1
Introduction
In consultation with the European Commission, the Ministry of the Environment and
Food (since November 2020 the Ministry of Environment) has agreed that Denmark
must monitor the use of phosphorus (P) in organic fertilizer and commercial ferti-
lizer, so that it is ensured that the average use does not exceed the national phospho-
rus ceiling. The monitoring is based on data from the fertilizer accounts, which is
available approximately one year after a planning period is completed, when the
farmers submit their fertilizer accounts to the Danish Agricultural Agency. The first
planning period with limiting phosphorus use by specific ceilings at farm level was
2017/2018.
As a supplement to monitoring, it has been agreed that an "indicator system" must be
established, where data from the NOVANA monitoring program in Agricultural
Catchments (LOOP) in combination with available data on livestock production and
sales of fertilizer and other phosphorus sources can provide an updated overview of
the average amount of phosphorus used in Danish agriculture.
These results from the P monitoring and indicator system, respectively, should be
compared with the phosphorus ceilings. In this connection, it was agreed, that the to-
tal amount of phosphorus used should be divided by the total agricultural area in or-
der to calculate the average fertilizer rate per year per ha on agricultural land. No re-
quirement has been set for the first planning period 2017/2018, but in 2018 (plan-
ning period 2018/2019) the average use should be below 34.7 kg P/ha, and in 2019
(planning period 2019/2020) the average use should be below 34.1 kg P/ha. In 2020
(planning period 2020/2021) the average use must be below 33.2 kg P/ha. If the av-
erage use exceeds 33.2 kg P/ha in 2020 (planning period 2020/2021), the phospho-
rus ceilings must be lowered.
6.2
Results from the P monitoring system
The Danish Agricultural Agency compiled data from the fertilizer accounts with data
from the planning period 2019/2020. The compiled data has not been processed or
checked thoroughly for exorbitant values and other "noise", e.g. typos. If there are ex-
orbitant values, it is estimated that only extremely high values in a few fertilizer ac-
counts can have an important influence on the overall results, so the results represent
a “worst case” scenario of phosphorus use.
Table 6.1: Compiled data from fertilizer accounts 2019/2020 (rounded numbers)
Produced P
(tons)
Poultry/fur
Finishers
Sows and piglets
Cattle (non-derogation)
Cattle (derogation)
Manure – Total
4,700
10,300
8,600
10,900
7,300
41,800
41,100
Used P
(tons)
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Waste and other P
Manure + waste
Chemical fertilizers
Used P – Total
3,600
3,300
44,400
17,600
62,000
Mio. ha
Agricultural area
Harmony area
Average P-ceiling in 2019/2020
kg P/ha agricultural area
kg P/ha harmony area
2,600
2,400
33.5
24.1
25.8
6.3
Results from P indicator system
The following table shows the phosphorus inputs as reported in the NOVANA report
"Land Surveillance Survival 2020" from December 2021
18
. The table shows an in-
crease as expected in the use of phosphorous in 2017 due to the increase in the P-ceil-
ing from 2016 to 2017. In the coming years the P-ceiling will be decreased back to a
lower level, so the increase in the use of phosphorous is not expected to continue.
Table 6.2: The use of P-input in Danish agriculture in 2012-2020
9
2012
Use of P (1,000 tons) in
different inputs:
- Chemical fertilizer
- Livestock manure
- Seed
- Sludge
- Waste from industry
- Other organic ferti-
l lizer
10
- Deposition
Total use of P
Agricultural area (1,000
ha)
11
kg P/ha in average
kg P/ha ( P-ceiling )
0.3
64.4
2,679
24.0
0.3
63.4
2,671
23.7
0.3
65.9
2,661
24.7
0.3
11.8
45.8
1.0
2.4
3.1
11.3
45.3
1.0
2.4
3.1
13.0
46.1
1.0
2.4
3.1
13.3
46.1
1.0
2.4
3.1
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
13.3
44.3
1.0
2.4
3.1
20.8
43.0
1.0
2.4
3.1
14.8
44.3
1.0
14.6
44.9
1
.0
16.0
43.8
1.0
2.8
0.3
64.4
2,625
24.4
[32.2]
12
0.3
70.5
2,61
0
27.0
35.2
0.3
63.2
2,602
24.3
34.7
3.1
0.3
63.9
2,613
24.4
34.1
3.1
0.3
64.3
2,613
24.1
33.2
66.2
2,633
25.1
9
Source: Blicher-Mathiesen
et al.
(2021):
Landovervågningsoplande 2020.
Aarhus University.
https://dce2.au.dk/pub/SR472.pdf
10
From 2018 onwards, amount of other organic waste, such as sludge and waste from industry, is derived
from the fertilizer accounts.
Agricultural area for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018 has been updated after submission of the Deroga-
tion Report 2019.
This figure indicates the average phosphorus protection level in 2016 expressed as a theoretical P-ceil-
ing, before the P-ceilings were introduced, and is included for comparison.
11
12
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In the dialogue with the EU Commission, it was expected that the development in
livestock production should be monitored via data from the CHR register, since Den-
mark previously prepared an annual status on the size of livestock production in vari-
ous catchments. This annual status is now done instead on the basis of the fertilizer
accounts, which is why the best data material on the development in livestock pro-
duction is the annual status of the livestock population, which is made by Statistics
Denmark. Statistics Denmark's information on livestock in 2017-2020 can be seen in
Table 6.3
.
Table 6.3: The development in the livestock production according to Statistics
Denmark in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020
13
Number
of ani-
mals
2017
Number of all kinds of
cattle and dairy cows
on all farms
Number of all kinds of
pigs on all farms
Number of all kinds of
poultry on all farms
Number of all kinds of
mink on all farms
1,545,417
Num-
ber of
animals
2018
1,540,446
Num-
ber of
animals
2019
1,491,433
Number of
animals
2020
1,498,713
% change in
total number
of animals
2017-2020
-3.02
12,307,667
21,483,698
3,429,472
12,781,247
19,973,164
3,379,931
12,298,993
23,059,881
2,489,751
13,162,627
6.95
22,132,858
2,234,101
3.02
-34.86
The manure production based on
data from the fertilizer accounts
shows that 11 % of
the total manure production comes from mink and poultry, 46 % from pigs and 43 %
from cattle. The amount of mink presented in the
table, is the number
of mink before
termination.
In November 2020, all mink in Denmark were ordered to be termi-
nated, as they were classified as a possible health risk with regards to the spread of
Covid 19.
14
There are no signs that indicate that a considerably larger amount of livestock ma-
nure will be produced in 2021, and that the average phosphorus application in Den-
mark will exceed 25-28 kg P/ha, as the phosphorus ceiling from 2018 onwards will be
reduced continuously. This level will be well below the average phosphorus ceilings of
35.2 kg P/ha in 2017, 34.7 kg P/ha in 2018, 34.1 kg P/ha in 2019,
33.2 kg P/ha in
2020 and further reductions set for 32-33 kg P/ha in 2022 and 30-31 kg P/ha in
2025.
13
14
Data from Statistics Denmark: for cattle, pigs, poulty and mink:
https://www.statistikbanken.dk/10472
https://www.ft.dk/samling/20201/almdel/mof/bilag/131/2284052.pdf
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7.
Targeted catch crops scheme and targeted nitrogen
regulation
Kari Lundsager and Marie Dam, The Danish Agricultural Agency, Ministry of
Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of Denmark, October 2020. Updated by Laurits
Hesselager, The Danish Agricultural Agency, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and
Fisheries of Denmark, October 2021
As part of the political agreement on the Food and Agricultural Package of December
2015, the reduction of the nitrogen application standards was removed. It was also
agreed to develop a new nitrogen regulation, the “targeted nitrogen regulation”,
which was to be implemented in 2019.
The Danish government introduced an intermediate initiative, the “targeted catch
crops scheme”, to reduce N-losses through promoting the establishment of additional
catch crops in 2017 and 2018. The scheme was designed to protect both groundwater
bodies and coastal waters. The scheme was targeted by assigning different require-
ments of nitrogen reductions for different water catchment areas, based on the calcu-
lated needed effort within each area.
The scheme consisted of a voluntary phase, where farmers applied for participation
in the scheme, and a subsequent mandatory requirement for catch crops if the volun-
tary scheme did not reach the predefined targets within each catchment area. The lat-
ter requirement was uncompensated whereas the voluntary part was compensated
with de minimis support.
In November 2017, a political agreement for targeted nitrogen regulation was
reached and would be implemented from 2019. The targeted nitrogen regulation is
similar to the targeted catch crops scheme in many ways. The most significant differ-
ence is the introduction of the possibility to use alternative measures to catch crops.
Conversion factors are used to secure that the alternatives have the same effect as
catch crop. Like the targeted catch crops scheme, the targeted nitrogen regulation is
divided into a voluntary and a mandatory part. The targeted nitrogen regulation was
subsidised by de minimis in 2019 and by RDP funds in 2020 and 2021.
After the application deadline in the voluntary crop scheme, the farmer is bound by
any commitment made, either through catch crops or alternatives, as well as by any
additional catch crop requirement imposed through the mandatory round.
The farmer will not be able to opt out of any of these requirements without conse-
quences. The voluntary and obligatory targeted catch crops or alternatives must be
additional to the national mandatory requirement for catch crops on 10.7 or 14.7% of
the farm’s crop base area, and they cannot be established on the same area used for
catch crops to meet the EFA requirement under direct payments.
If the farmer opts out afterwards or non-compliance is detected during control, the
nitrogen quota for the farm (calculated on the basis of the composition and distribu-
tion of crops and the soil and crop-specific nitrogen standards) is reduced corre-
sponding to the non-compliance with the voluntary and/or mandatory requirement
and according to a conversion factor between the nitrogen reduction effect of catch
crops and the nitrogen quota reduction for the planning period. This quota reduction
will contribute to meeting the objectives of the Nitrates Directive. Furthermore, if the
reduced nitrogen quota is exceeded, the farmer will be in breach of the Fertilizer Act
and will be sanctioned accordingly cf. Annex III point 1.3 of the Nitrates Directive.
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This is similar to the current practice for the general catch crop requirements and
additional catch crop requirements for holdings using organic manure.
In 2019, the targeted nitrogen regulation contributed to a nitrogen reduction of 1,174
tons in coastal waters, including reductions of nitrogen leaching to the groundwater.
Further, in 2019, it was decided by political agreement to increase the effort of the
targeted nitrogen regulation in 2020 for additional contribution to meet the objec-
tives of The Water Framework Directive. In 2020, the targeted nitrogen regulation
will thus contribute to a nitrogen reduction of 3,514 tons in coastal waters. In 2021,
the targeted nitrogen regulation contributes to a nitrogen reduction of 3,514 tons in
coastal waters plus an additional 4 tons postponed from the previous year.
7.1
Results from 2017 to 2021
Prior to 2017 and 2018, respectively, the ministry calculated the need for further
nitrates efforts for each of the years, which can be expressed as the amount of addi-
tional catch crops required in the individual water catchment areas, in terms of hec-
tares and as a percentage of the crop base area. The calculation is based on the esti-
mated need for reductions in the nitrates contents of groundwater bodies and coastal
waters, adjusted by the estimated soil nitrates retention in the water catchment area.
In 2019 and 2020, the targeted nitrogen regulation was dimensioned to comply with
the Danish implementation of The Water Framework Directive.
In 2017, the need for further nitrogen efforts was calculated to 137,560 ha. By the
application deadline, the farmers had applied for a total of 144,220 ha of catch crops.
However, the geographical distribution of the catch crops was not optimal in relation
to the efforts needed. Calculations revealed that an additional
3,253
ha catch crops
were needed in order to reach the target. It was decided politically to postpone the
residual effort until 2018.
In 2018, the need for further nitrogen effort was calculated to 114,300 ha catch crops
(including the postponed 3,253 ha). By the application deadline, the farmers had
applied for a total of 105,000 ha of catch crops. It was furthermore decided to post-
pone the effort related to aquaculture (fish farming, mariculture, etc.), as extensions
of existing aquaculture facilities had not been approved. Calculations revealed that
an additional
3,000
ha catch crops were nevertheless needed in order to reach the
target. This has been implemented as a mandatory uncompensated requirement in
2018.
In 2019, the need for nitrogen efforts in targeted nitrogen regulation was calculated
to 138,200 ha of catch crops. By the application deadline, the farmers had applied for
139,350 ha of catch crops (and alternatives). Calculation revealed that an additional
275 ha were needed to reach the set effort. The reason was the geographical distribu-
tion of the catch crops, which was not optimal. It was decided politically to postpone
this insignificant residual effort to 2020.
In 2020 the need for nitrogen efforts in targeted nitrogen regulation was calculated
to 373,000 ha of catch crops and included the residual effort from 2019. By the appli-
cation deadline, the farmers had applied for 370,000 ha of catch crops (and alterna-
tives). Some applications had to be dismissed, as the set effort for the individual
water catchment areas was already reached. A total of 349,400 ha was approved for
the voluntary phase. Calculations of the geographically specific retention disclosed
that an additional 12,493 ha were needed to reach the set national nitrogen reduction
effort. Consequently, this was implemented as a mandatory uncompensated require-
ment in 2020. Excluding a minor residual effort of 350 ha of catch crops, which was
decided politically to postpone.
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In 2020, the need for nitrogen efforts was calculated to 3,518 tons of nitrogen, which
included 4 tons of residual effort postponed from the previous year. That corre-
sponded to 373,600 ha of catch crops. By the application deadline, the farmers had
applied for 359,200 ha of catch crops and alternatives. Due to suboptimal geograph-
ical placements of the catch crops in relation to the needed efforts in the individual
water catchments areas, some applications had to be rejected. Some water catchment
areas had too many applications, while in other areas the applications did not meet
the required nitrogen targets. A total of 351,800 ha was approved. It was calculated
that an additional effort corresponding to a total of
17,200
ha was needed to meet
the national nitrogen effort goal. This remaining effort was implemented as a manda-
tory uncompensated requirement in 2021.
8.
Conclusions
8.1
Cattle holdings and controls on farm level
In the planning period 2019/2020, a total of 1,197 cattle holdings made use of the
derogation. This corresponds to 3.7 % of the total number of agricultural holdings in
Denmark. These holdings produced 36.8 million kg N corresponding to 16.8 % of the
total kg N produced. The arable land encompassed by the derogation in year
2019/2020 was 182,950 hectares corresponding to around 7.6 % of the total arable
area. Compared to the previous reporting period, in 2019/2020 there has been a
decrease in the number of farms and the number of hectares encompassed by the
derogation. The average livestock size was 30,769 kg N/holding in 2019/2020.
In January – February 2021, 79 inspections of compliance with the derogation man-
agement conditions were carried out. All of these inspections were closed without
remarks.
For the year 2018/2019, 85 inspections (0.3 % of all Danish holdings) at the holding
were made concerning compliance with the harmony rules (amount of livestock
manure applied per hectare). 85 of the inspected farms used the derogation. 9 of
these inspections were closed without remarks. No holdings had no remarks.
76 holdings are still under investigation.
All 33,056 fertilizer accounts submitted in 2018/2019 (100 %) were automatically
screened by the IT-system according to normal procedure. Of these, 645 (2.0 %) were
subject to administrative control or administrative inspections. In all, 133 of these
holdings used the derogation. Of the inspections of derogation farms, 42 (31.6 %)
were closed without remarks, 2 (1.5 %) were closed with remarks and 89 (66.9 %) are
still under investigation.
In total, approximately 7.0% of derogation farms were selected for physical inspec-
tions. In total, more derogation farms have been subject to controls due to the afore-
mentioned administrative inspections. As holdings are automatically selected - based
on a previously agreed set of risk criteria - for both physical inspections and adminis-
trative inspections, the Danish Agricultural Agency has no direct influence on the
share of holdings using the derogation that are inspected each year. Therefore, the
share of derogation farms that in some way has been subject to controls varies from
year to year.
8.2
Water quality
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 MOF, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 617: Orientering om den årlige rapport til EU-Kommissionen om den danske undtagelse fra nitratdirektivet, fra miljøministeren
General conclusions from the Agricultural Catchment Monitoring Pro-
gramme
In 1998 the Action Plan for the Aquatic Environment (APAE) II was accepted by the
EU Commission as the Danish Nitrate Action Plan implementing the Nitrate Di-
rective (1998-2003). In 2003, a final evaluation of Action Plan II was performed,
showing a reduction of 48% of the nitrate leaching from the agricultural sector, ful-
filling the reduction target set in 1987.
Further mitigation measures were implemented in the following Action Plans.
The APAE III from 2008 were implemented to reduce N leaching from the root zone
and the Green Growth Agreement from 2009. Hence, the first and second River Ba-
sin Management Plan from 2014 and 2016, respectively as well as the Food and Agri-
cultural Agreement in December 2015 suggests mitigation measures and reductions
target for N load to marine areas in order to fulfil the targets in the Water Framework
Directive.
Modelling
of the nitrate concentrations in the soil water leaving the root zone
showed an average concentration of 74-92 mg NO
3
l
-1
for cattle holdings using 170-
230 kg organic manure N in 2020 and the concentrations were 2, 6, and 4 mg NO
3
l
-1
higher for derogation farms than for cattle farms using 140-170 kg N ha
-1
of N in
manure and other organic fertilisers.
Measured
average flow-weighted nitrate concentration in root zone water at four-
five specific sites with an average manure application within 170-230 kg N ha
-1
varied
between 64 and 103 mg NO
3
l
-1
for the recent five hydrological years (2015/16-
2019/20).
The general conclusions to be drawn on trend in measured nitrate con-
centrations in root zone water and upper oxic ground from the Agricul-
tural Catchment Monitoring Programme are that:
Nitrate concentrations in root zone soil water (1.0 m below soil surface) have de-
creased steadily from 1990/01 to 2015/16. On loamy catchments the measured ni-
trate concentration decreased from 61-155 mg NO
3
l
-1
in the five year period 1990/91-
1994/95 to 37-66 mg NO
3
l
-1
in the five year period 2011/12-2015/16. On sandy catch-
ments the nitrate concentration was 73-207 mg NO
3
l
-1
in the five year period
1990/91-1994/95 and decreased to 54-73 mg NO
3
l
-1
in the five year period 2011/12-
2015/16. High annual variation was measured after 2015/16 until 2019/20, 48-107
mg NO
3
l
-1
on loamy soils and 57-99 mg NO
3
l
-1
on sandy soils with highest concen-
trations in years with low precipitation and subsequent percolation and lowest con-
centrations in years with high precipitation and subsequent percolation as seen in the
latest year 2019/20.
Nitrate concentrations in the upper oxic groundwater (1.5-5.0 m below soil surface)
decreased to a level well below the limit of 50 mg NO
3
l
-1
for loamy catchments and to
59-77 mg NO
3
l
-1
for sandy catchments in the 5-year period 2015/16-2019/20.
8.3
Targeted catch crops and targeted nitrogen regulation
For the year 2017, a total of app. 144,000 ha voluntary targeted catch crops were es-
tablished, and a further effort of 3,250 ha were postponed to 2018. In 2018, a total of
app. 105,000 ha voluntary catch crops were established, and in addition a mandatory
effort of app. 3,000 ha has been applied (uncompensated). In 2019, first year of tar-
geted nitrogen regulation, a total of 139,350 ha voluntary catch crops (or alternatives)
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were established, a further effort of 275 ha was postponed. In 2020, the targeted
nitrogen regulation continued with a total of app. 349.400 ha voluntary catch crops
established, and an additional mandatory effort of app. 12,500 ha applied (uncom-
pensated). A further effort of 350 ha was postponed. In 2021, targeted nitrogen regu-
lation continued with a total of 359,200 ha of catch crops and alternatives applied for
in the voluntary phase. Of those, 351,800 ha catch crops and alternatives were
approved, and a further 17,200 ha was applied through an uncompensated manda-
tory effort.
8.4
The reinforced monitoring
The reinforced monitoring does not provide data that can be used to examine any po-
tential effect on water quality that might be the result of the use of the derogation.
A range of other fluctuating factors than proximity to a derogation farm influence nu-
trient concentrations in the aquatic environment. However, by including the data
from the selected set of the surface water and groundwater monitoring stations, the
data basis for water quality in sandy areas is considerably enlarged. The total number
of farms encompassed by the reinforced monitoring corresponds to 3.4 % of all hold-
ings that make use of the derogation.
8.5
The phosphorus indicator and monitoring system
Neither the phosphorus indicator nor the P monitoring system indicate that the aver-
age phosphorus application in Denmark exceeds the average phosphorus ceiling of
33.2 kg P/ha. There is currently also no risk for exceeding future P-ceilings, which are
reduced compared to current level.
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Ministry of Environment of Denmark / Nitrates Directive / Derogation Report 2021
 MOF, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 617: Orientering om den årlige rapport til EU-Kommissionen om den danske undtagelse fra nitratdirektivet, fra miljøministeren MOF, Alm.del - 2021-22 - Bilag 617: Orientering om den årlige rapport til EU-Kommissionen om den danske undtagelse fra nitratdirektivet, fra miljøministeren
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