European Commission announces communication on fertilisers

By Natasha Foote

The European Commission will put forward a communication on fertilisers as part of efforts to tackle the disruption caused by the Ukraine war, but this still falls short of the EU-wide fertilisers strategy that stakeholders have been calling for.

Addressing a European Parliament plenary debate on Thursday (6 October), EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said the EU executive is ″ready to put forward their communication on fertilisers″ in light of the intense disruption faced by the sector.

″We need a clear vision [of] how to ensure in this crisis situation, the economic security for our farmers and, first of all, food security for our society,″ he stressed.

However, the communication will not set up a European strategy for fertilisers and will include no new policy actions. Instead, any new actions would need to be adopted under a separate instrument, a Commission spokesperson explained to EURACTIV.

The spokesperson also refrained from giving a timeline for the communication’s publication, explaining that the dates are not yet confirmed.

The communication will focus on making the fertiliser industry less externally dependent, while simultaneously exploring ways to make EU farmers less dependent on fertilisers.

It will also cover external dimensions, such as vulnerable countries in Africa, as well as food security and sustainability aspects.

According to the Commissioner, it will also serve as a chance to review the effectiveness of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) strategic plans (see below for more details) in providing solutions to the fertiliser problem in general.

This will include assessing whether proper attention in shaping the national plans has been paid to the uptake of precision farming, rational planning of fertiliser use, and the incentivisation of biological and other alternatives to traditional fertilisers. 

Russia and Belarus provide 60% of the EU’s fertiliser, according to data from the industry association Fertilizers Europe.

Sanctions introduced in March on imports of potash from Belarus and interruptions to trade with Russia have put significant pressure on supplies, leaving the sector scrambling for other sources. 

Meanwhile, the energy-intensive fertiliser production process has also been hit by soaring energy costs, pushing the price of fertilisers up even further.

The news comes in response to a question, put forward by centre-right EU lawmakers Colm Markey and Herbert Dorfmann, which cited an ″urgent need″ to tackle the current fertiliser shortage and urged the Commission to act immediately to address the unsustainable input costs facing farmers.

Welcoming the news that the EU executive would put forward a dedicated communication on the issue, Markey stressed that speed was of the essence. 

″We need to act now for next spring, quite simply, next spring will be too late,″ he said, calling for emergency measures addressing short-term issues. 

″Expensive fertiliser means expensive food, expensive food means it’s just not affordable for some people. So we need to act, and we need to act now,″ he concluded.

Too little, too late

The announcement of the proposal was broadly welcomed by other MEPs from across the political spectrum, although some criticised the Commission for being slow off the starting block. 

″The strategy that we’re putting forward today is certainly to be welcomed, but it’s come at such a late stage,″ far-right MEP Gilles Lebreton said, adding that this ″reaffirms [his] idea that the Commission is always late in acting″.

Meanwhile, he also expressed concerns that the proposed solutions will be insufficient. 

″I’m waiting for a real strategy which will allow us to bring back to Europe the production of fertilisers, which we need,″ he said.

Likewise, Dorfmann joined in the calls for a targeted strategy, explaining that high fertiliser prices have already seen Europe’s production fall.

″We need to resolve a longer-term problem. We need a strategy, money and research and we should improve our understanding of fertilisers,″ he said.

The calls were echoed by Mónica Andrés Enríquez, the executive vice-president of fertiliser maker Yara, who told EURACTIV that there can be ″no food security in Europe or globally without an EU fertiliser strategy″.

″Without such a strategy, the European food system’s dependence on more carbon-intensive Russian fertilisers will continue to grow,″ she warned.

For his part, Ariel Brunner, Head of Policy at EU campaign group BirdLife Europe, told EURACTIV that he was not opposed in principle to the idea of a strategy, but only if the emphasis was placed on the reduction of the use of fertilisers and nutrient sustainability.

″What we need to do is help farmers use nitrogen more sparingly and more efficiently, and focus on a strategy which is not about subsidies for inputs or focusing on EU fertiliser production,″ he explained. 

A potential initiative to boost domestic production of fertilisers to reduce reliance on third countries – particularly Russia – was discussed in August during a meeting between Spanish Agriculture Minister Luis Planas and his French counterpart Marc Fesneau.

At the time, the French stressed the need to set up ″an EU strategy for fertilisers like the energy strategy,″ referring to the REPower EU plan to limit reliance on Russian fossil fuels. At the same time, Planas highlighted the importance of regaining strategic autonomy in the production of fertilisers.

The strategy already received tentative support from Agriculture Commissioner Wojcieichowski, who told EURACTIV ahead of an informal meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Prague on 16 September that it requires serious consideration.