Management of Agricultural Nitrogen Losses in European Landscapes: An Ecosystem Modelling Case Study

Management of Nitrogen (N) losses and the related greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most important environmental issues related to agriculture. This paper shows examples of an integrated model tool, developed to quantify the N-dynamics at the complex interface between agriculture and the environment, and quantify effects of different management practices. Based on results from the EU funded research projects NitroEurope (www.NitroEurope.eu) and MEA-scope (www.MEA-scope.org), examples from the quantification of farm N-losses in European agricultural landscapes are demonstrated. The dynamic whole farm model FASSET (www.FASSET.dk), and the Farm-N tool ( www.farm-N.dk/FarmNTool) are used to calculate farm N balances, and distribute the surplus N between different types of N-losses (volatilisation, denitrification, leaching), and the related greenhouse gas emissions. Results show significant variation among landscapes and management practices. Moreover, significant effects of the non- linearities, appearing when integrating over time, and scaling up from farm to landscape, are demonstrated. Finally, general recommendations for landscape-level management of farm related nitrogen and greenhouse gas fluxes are made, and discussed in relation to ongoing work in European research projects and in relation to ecosystem services.