How can farmers deal with increasing expenses on forage protein, energy and fertilizers?
A very large part of the nitrogen fertilizer, that European farmers need, is produced with energy based on gas. We have all heard of extremely high energy-prizes for almost a year and of shutdown of N-fertilizer production plants as a consequence. The impact on the fertilizer prizing has been immense. The prize of one kilo of nitrogen exceeds two euros which is more than double up compared with last season. On top of this China and Russia have introduced export bans on fertilizers to protect their own farmers. This is a good incitement to consider to be more self-sufficient with protein and to grow your own fertilizer using N-fixing legumes. Studies have shown that you are able to harvest up to 3-ton protein/ha from clover-grass, even with less nitrogen application than 100 kg N/ha.
Read more about this in the latest insider here