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Farmers fear that the Government could be considering a tax on nitrogen fertiliser which could add 10 per cent to the price.
The concept appears to be gathering momentum as the Government tries to find ways to meet its Kyoto Protocol obligations to slow global warming, but the fertiliser industry says that animal urine, not nitrogen fertiliser, is the greatest greenhouse gas contributor.
A spokeswoman for Climate Change Minister David Parker said any charge added to the cost of nitrogen fertiliser would be offset by an incentive to use nitrogen inhibitors.
Parker floated the idea of a carbon emissions trading scheme for polluters but said agriculture would get different treatment.
A proposed nitrogen charge was outlined in a discussion document released before Christmas, and Parker's spokeswoman said a decision would be made in the next few months.
United Future agriculture spokesman Gordon Copeland rejected the notion of imposing a tax. He would like farmers to carry the cost of greenhouse gas emissions from activities other than from livestock, perhaps from planting trees, with the activities settled each year through an annual return.
Fert Research technical director Hilton Furness said a proposal to tax nitrogen fertiliser appeared to have found favour with politicians and he believed the charge would add about 10 per cent to the cost of the product.
He said the Government's thinking was that a tax on nitrogen fertiliser would address issues of leaching affecting water quality, as well as put some control on the release of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide.
However, he said a tax ignored the fact that animal urine patches were the main environmental issue with nitrogen.
A urine patch equated to 1000kg of nitrogen a hectare, a very high concentration of nitrogen on a small area which was difficult for the soil to assimilate, he said.
Bacteria in the soil acting on the nitrogen released nitrous oxide and if it rained, nitrogen from the urine patch could leach through the soil.
Developers of nitrogen inhibitors claim the product can stop the release of up to 70 per cent of urine and artificial nitrogen.
Federated Farmers' Andrew Gillanders said the high cost of nitrogen fertiliser meant farmers were not using it irresponsibly.
In the past month, he said, the price had increased by 20 per cent or $100 a tonne, to $600 a tonne, because of a world-wide shortage. He said many farmers tested the soil before applying the fertiliser.
- OTAGO DAILY TIMES
