The use of computer modelling to evaluate the agronomic, economic and environmental impacts of N management in contrasting organic rotations

Summary

A new computer model (EU-ROTATE_N) has been developed with the aim of improving nitrogen management on all farms across Europe which include fi eld vegetables in their rotations. It brings together aspects of many existing models and contains a number of features to make it applicable to organic producers (e.g. taking account of nitrogen fixation by legume containing leys, nitrogen conservation by winter cover crops and nitrogen supply by manures and composts). A key feature is the model’s ability to simulate economic output and this enables it to be of value to policy makers when considering the impact of new measures to reduce environmental pollution. This paper describes the model and some initial work that has been conducted to evaluate it under UK organic field vegetable systems with contrasting fertility building strategies.