GreenGrass

Strategies to reduce N fertiliser use in dairy farming

The GreenGrass project will work with conventional dairy farmers who are striving to minimise their carbon footprint and improve efficiency through reduced use of N fertilisers. We will collaborate directly with dairy farmers to co-create solutions and trial innovations on their farms.

Project Leaders and Partners

ORC (project leader)

Project Aims

For decades fertiliser has been used to help meet growing food demands because it is simple and effective, but the environmental damage it causes are becoming all too apparent. One of the crops that uses the most N fertiliser in the UK is intensively managed grass in the dairy sector. This project targets this crop and will trial a variety of strategies to reduce N fertiliser use in the dairy sector. We will use a living lab approach to work with dairy farmers to co-create integrated solutions that improve N efficiency on the farm and reduce the need for purchased N fertiliser. Some strategies we are exploring are precision application of N fertiliser based on in-field variability in soils and foliar N applications. We’ll also be looking at some of the novel biostimulants on the market and testing their efficacy in combination with reduced rates of N fertiliser.