Can N Use and Farm Income be Optimized for Organic Field Vegetable Rotations in Europe?

Summary

Most fresh organic vegetables are produced in intensive rotations, which rely heavily on large inputs of nitrogen to maintain the yield and quality of produce demanded by customers. Field vegetable crops often use nitrogen inefficiently and may leave large residues of nitrogen in the soil after harvest, which can lead to damage to soil, water and air quality. The four-year project EU-ROTATE_N "Development of a model-based decision support system to optimize nitrogen use in horticultural crops rotations across Europe" aims to reduce some of these problems. The project, led by HRI Wellesbourne, started in January 2003 and involves seven research organizations from countries in northern, central and southern Europe. Work includes the evaluation of the effects of varying levels of N supply on both product quality and farm income for organic and conventional rotations, as well as case studies for the evaluation of agricultural strategies with respect to N losses and economics for vegetable crops in Europe. This paper describes the work carried out at HDRA which focuses on farm economics and organic field vegetable rotations.