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Recommendations Economics Conclusions The use of model farms and the aggregation across whole aquifers, based on model data, can only provide a broad-brush estimate of the cost at the aquifer level of the revised management of nitrogen with the aim of reducing nitrogen leaching. Although the models are intended to reflect `typical' management practices on farms, we have not been able to validate how representative these practices are on farms and they are a poor substitute for more detailed information based on survey data. However, the approach we have used allows different nitrogen management strategies to be compared on the same type of farm and the cost of strategies on one type of farm to be compared to strategies on another type of farm. At the farm and aquifer level, the data gives an indication of the economic significance (at the farm gate) of strategies designed to reduce nitrate leaching and provides information to assist in the targeting of additional work which may be required to further refine such estimates. | |
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