30 October 2026, England: Better management of nitrogen fertiliser on English farms could cut their energy-related carbon footprint by as much as 13%, according to new modelling research from Rothamsted Research published this month, adding fresh weight to the case for tighter nutrient management as a near-term climate lever for agriculture.
The research lands as UK agriculture works toward the government’s broader net zero target, under which farming is expected to deliver meaningful emissions cuts without large reductions in food output, making practical, low-disruption levers like nitrogen management especially attractive to policymakers and farm advisors alike.
The study, led by Rothamsted hydrologist Dr Yusheng Zhang and carried out under the Global Nitrogen Innovation Center for Clean Energy and Environment, known as NICCEE, was published in the journal Food and Energy Security and appeared on Rothamsted’s own news pages on October 14, 2026. It is a national-scale modelling exercise rather than a field trial: researchers built current energy-use profiles for five representative English farm types, cereal, dairy, mixed, general cropping, and lowland grazing livestock, then modelled what would happen if each adopted existing best-practice nitrogen management.
Where the Carbon Savings Come From
The model distinguishes between direct energy use on the farm, such as fuel for machinery, and indirect, or embedded, energy, the energy consumed earlier in the supply chain to manufacture inputs like nitrogen fertiliser before they ever reach the farm gate. For farms without livestock, this embedded fertiliser-related energy already accounted for 39% to 47% of total energy-related impacts, measured in carbon dioxide equivalent, a standard unit that converts the warming effect of different greenhouse gases into a single comparable figure.
Under the improved nitrogen management scenario, indirect energy use tied to fertiliser fell by 16% to 40%, depending on farm type. Combined with direct on-farm savings, this translated into an 8.8% to 13.0% cut in total energy-related carbon dioxide equivalent impacts across the farm types studied. In absolute terms, current average annual energy-related impacts ranged widely by farm type, from 401 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per hectare on lowland grazing livestock farms to 1,002 kilograms per hectare on dairy farms, reflecting how much more nitrogen-intensive dairy and arable systems are compared with extensive grazing. The researchers also modelled reductions in eutrophication, the nutrient pollution of waterways from fertiliser runoff, and acidification, showing that better nitrogen management brings environmental benefits beyond carbon alone.
Crucially, the researchers frame these savings as achievable without sacrificing farm output. Professor Adie Collins, Rothamsted’s Science Director, said the bigger long-term opportunity lies not on the farm itself but further up the supply chain, in how nitrogen fertiliser is manufactured. He pointed to green ammonia, fertiliser-grade ammonia produced using renewable electricity instead of fossil fuels, as a technology with “potential to make a difference,” while cautioning that its wider adoption depends on a steady supply of renewable power and careful assessment of the trade-offs involved. Rothamsted says it is now extending this work to study green ammonia production on UK farms and to run full life-cycle analyses comparing the carbon cost of different fertiliser types from manufacture through to field use.
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