TY - JOUR

T1 - Synergies and tradeoffs between nitrate leaching and net farm income

T2 - The case of nitrogen best management practices in South Korea

AU - Nguyen, Trung Thanh

AU - Ruidisch, Marianne

AU - Koellner, Thomas

AU - Tenhunen, John

N1 - Funding Information: This study was carried out as part of the International Research Training Group TERRECO (GRK 1565/1) funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) at the University of Bayreuth, Germany and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) at the Kangwon National University, South Korea. We would like to thank Eunyoung Jung and Janine Kettering for their valuable comments and suggestions. We also thank Sebastian Arnhold for helping us to make Fig. 1 .

PY - 2014/3/15

Y1 - 2014/3/15

N2 - This study examined the synergies and tradeoffs between nitrate leaching and net farm income of radish (Raphanus sativus L.) cultivation in a highland area of South Korea. Synergies describe economic and environmental benefits that are derived by agricultural management practices, which increase net farm income and decrease nitrate leaching simultaneously. The effects of different nitrogen best management practices (NMBP) in reducing nitrate leaching and their economic consequences, in terms of net farm income, were investigated via field experiments, modeling simulations of nitrate leaching and economic analyses of costs and benefits. Our results showed that the use of plastic mulch, fertilizer placement only in ridges, split fertilization and combination of these NBMP reduced nitrate that percolates into the groundwater system. The plastic mulching and fertilizer placement only in ridges were also shown to be economically profitable, demonstrating synergies between net farm income and nitrate leaching. However, there are tradeoffs in the cases of split fertilization and combination of NBMP as they lower both leached nitrate and net farm income. Thus, there are opportunities for policy makers to motivate farmers to adopt split fertilization and combine NBMP. This can be done by compensating farmers for the losses of their net farm income.

AB - This study examined the synergies and tradeoffs between nitrate leaching and net farm income of radish (Raphanus sativus L.) cultivation in a highland area of South Korea. Synergies describe economic and environmental benefits that are derived by agricultural management practices, which increase net farm income and decrease nitrate leaching simultaneously. The effects of different nitrogen best management practices (NMBP) in reducing nitrate leaching and their economic consequences, in terms of net farm income, were investigated via field experiments, modeling simulations of nitrate leaching and economic analyses of costs and benefits. Our results showed that the use of plastic mulch, fertilizer placement only in ridges, split fertilization and combination of these NBMP reduced nitrate that percolates into the groundwater system. The plastic mulching and fertilizer placement only in ridges were also shown to be economically profitable, demonstrating synergies between net farm income and nitrate leaching. However, there are tradeoffs in the cases of split fertilization and combination of NBMP as they lower both leached nitrate and net farm income. Thus, there are opportunities for policy makers to motivate farmers to adopt split fertilization and combine NBMP. This can be done by compensating farmers for the losses of their net farm income.

KW - Plastic mulched ridge cultivation

KW - Radish

KW - Sustainable agriculture

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84896897200&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.agee.2014.02.003

DO - 10.1016/j.agee.2014.02.003

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84896897200

VL - 186

SP - 160

EP - 169

JO - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment

JF - Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment

SN - 0167-8809

ER -