Samsø farmers warn nitrogen rules could devastate vegetable production

Samsø farmers fear new nitrogen regulations could make vegetable production unviable on the island, DR reports. Farmer Jens Kjeldahl travelled by ferry to Odense on Monday with 30 other farmers and municipal council members to attend a large meeting about the rules.

Kjeldahl is one of the owners of a Samsø company that employs more than 120 people and grows potatoes, onions and red cabbage.

“On Samsø, this would be fatal,” he said.

The concern centres on the green tripartite agreement, which from January will introduce a fixed limit on the amount of nitrogen that may be released from each field.

Vegetable growers would be particularly affected because vegetables are harvested while they are still growing, leaving more nitrogen in the soil than crops such as grain. Preliminary calculations from the Danish Organic Association indicate that growing vegetables on one hectare could require between two and six hectares without vegetables to be fertilised and set aside.

Kjeldahl currently expects to have to set aside five fields for every field where he grows onions. The costs of those five hectares would have to be added to the one hectare under cultivation, he said, making the produce much more expensive and increasing the risk that foreign fruit and vegetables would replace it in competition.

The new nitrogen rules are intended to improve Denmark’s marine environment and reduce excessive algae and oxygen depletion. Oxygen depletion along the Danish coast has been alarmingly high for the third consecutive year.

Kjeldahl said he recognised the need for agriculture to change, but argued that the process should move more slowly.

“We want to take part in the transition, but we also want to help ensure a secure food supply in Denmark. We can only do that if we have proper conditions,” he said.

He rejected the suggestion that farmers should immediately do more to reduce nitrogen emissions, saying he had changed his farming practices every year during the 38 years he had been farming.

Samsø Mayor Per Urban Olsen (K) was also on the bus to Odense. He said the rules could cost jobs not only in agriculture but also at the island’s vegetable centres and in related industries.

According to Olsen, vegetable production accounts for 22 per cent of Samsø’s private labour market. He said farmers needed to plan far ahead and urged the authorities to implement the green tripartite agreement at a pace that people could follow.

Minister for Nature and Animal Welfare Christian Rabjerg Madsen (S) has so far rejected exempting vegetable growers from the nitrogen rules, but has said he hopes the regulation can be made more flexible for them.

The meeting in Odense was called by the Danish Agriculture and Food Council and was expected to draw more than 4,000 participants. The new nitrogen regulation is scheduled to be adopted by the Danish Parliament on Thursday.