Nutrient budgets for organic farming

Summary

This review identifies the research done on nutrient budgeting and presents the latest input and output data for use in nutrient budgeting on farm to support rotation and soil management decision making.
Based on the research and practice of Nutrient Budgeting (NB) the review provides a draft guide for farmers, advisors and others on the theory and use of NB, including a guide to nutrient budgeting on organic farms. The review identifies all the relevant organic and where appropriate, the non organic research undertaken on nutrient budgeting and related subjects. The review identifies sources of nutrient input/output data for nutrient budgeting, based on available information makes recommendations on updating exisiting data for populating a NB tool, noting any missing or unreliable data.
The review identifies the currently available Nutrient Budgeting tools that have potential for application to organic farming, asseses their methodology and makes recommendations on what modifications are required in the light of the information identified in this Review.