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The release of reactive nitrogen compounds into the atmosphere, soil and water belongs to one of the biggest environmental challenges in Germany. Consequences are the loss of biodiversity due to eutrophication and acidification of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, impaired groundwater quality and impacts on human health. Responsible for the emissions of reactive nitrogen compounds are primarily agricultural activities and combustion processes. A number of European environmental targets and objectives in the context of nitrogen are clearly being missed. It is urgently necessary to increase the efforts to reduce nitrogen emissions and to protect biodiversity and human health. Important processes are a further development of European clean air policies and the implementation of the European Nitrate Directive and Water Framework Directive in Germany. A national nitrogen strategy could be a good starting point to increase efforts to solve the nitrogen problem and for a better integration of existing protection policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A newly developed indicator of the pesticide risk for aquatic biocenosis in surface water bodies is applied within an economic sector model, and is used to evaluate alternative designs for an environmental policy programme. For rural districts (‘Landkreise’) across Germany, different widths of riparian buffer zones adjacent to surface water bodies are evaluated in terms of efficient cost/risk ratios. The indicator is defined as acute risk under worst-case input conditions and is based on combining a sectoral model, a national survey on pesticide use and a toxicological risk assessment model. The nation-wide survey provides data on pesticide use by agricultural crop. On this basis, crop-specific risk indices for aquatic biocenosis are calculated by means of eco-toxic criteria for indicator organisms and aggregated through crop patterns to the rural-district level. GIS is used to calculate the influences of natural site factors (e.g. soil types, land use distance to water bodies, etc.) on pesticide input in surface water and to calculate the regional risk potentials at regional level. An economic cost–impact analysis is conducted based on the new indicator. Opportunity costs of converting agricultural land to riparian buffer strips are estimated using the agricultural sector model RAUMIS, for buffer strip widths of 3, 30 and 50m, as per the European the environmental programme EC 99/1257/EEC. These costs are then compared with estimated risk reduction potentials at the regional level of administrative districts. Results show that cost–impact ratios are most efficient for 3m buffer strips and in those regions with the lowest costs from changing agricultural land use (e.g. through reduced livestock production). A major future research need in this area is a higher spatial resolution at the grid-level. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the EU, several environmental regulations aim at protecting the environment from agricultural nitrogen and phosphorus losses. The German regulation on farmers' nutrient management, especially implementing the EU Nitrates Directive, was revised in 2017. It comprises considerable tightening of numerous measures and costs for farmers to comply with. We provide the first systematic farm-level analysis of compliance costs of the recent revision in a case study for the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia. To do so, we apply a bio-economic optimisation model at farm level to a representative sample of specialized dairy and pig farms. The sample is derived by Latin Hypercube sampling based on the observed distribution of farm characteristics from official agricultural statistics. Modelling results are evaluated by grouping of farms and a statistical meta-model. Results show highly heterogeneous compliance costs reaching from 0 to 2.66 Euro per pig and 0 to 0.83 cent per kg milk. 47.3% of pig and 38.4% of dairy farms do not face any costs. Pig farms with high compliance costs are characterized by high stocking density, the absence of low-emission manure application techniques and phosphorus-enriched soils. Dairy farms with high compliance costs have no low-emission manure application techniques and a high share of grassland. For dairy farms, stricter thresholds for nutrient application do not cause any compliance costs. The meta-model reveals the large effect of prices and assumptions regarding the fertilizer management on compliance costs. Results are of relevance beyond the case study area as other regions in the EU have a similar agricultural structure and need to fulfill the same EU directives. Policymakers need to be aware that high compliance costs increase the incentive of non-compliance and also consider heterogeneous impacts when designing complementary policies. Future research should focus on long-term adaption of farmers and include transaction costs as well as technical progress. • German implementation of the Nitrates Directive was revised in 2017. • On-farm compliance costs are highly heterogeneous between farms. • For pig and dairy farms, existing manure application technique is major cost driver. • Pig farms with high stocking density face costs to lower phosphate surplus. • Sampling approach generates representative farm sample under restricted data access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The location of first generation processing plants for biogas using bulky inputs is a prominent example of locational decisions of plants that face high per unit transport costs of feedstock and simultaneously depend to a large extent on feedstock availability. Modelling the resulting regional feedstock markets then requires a spatially explicit representation of demand. With production capacities of plants small in comparison to market size, large numbers of possible type-location combinations need to be considered, requiring considerable computation time under existing integer programming-based approaches. Therefore, in this paper we aim to present an alternative, faster and more flexible iterative solution approach to simulate location decisions for processing plants. And with greater flexibility, this approach is able to take into account spatially heterogeneous transport costs depending on total demand. The approach is implemented in a modelling framework for biogas production from green maize in Germany, which currently accounts for ca. five per cent of Germany’s agricultural area. By modifying green maize prices, demand functions are derived and intersected with regional supply functions from an agricultural model to simulate market clearing prices and quantities. The application illustrates that our approach efficiently simulates markets characterised by small-scale demand units and high, spatially heterogeneous transport costs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]