An EU farm organisation is calling on the European Commission to "act swiftly" to amend the Nitrates Directive so the EU does not "miss out" on 'RENURE' (recovered nitrogen from manure) technologies.
Copa Cogeca, which represents EU farm organisations and agricultural co-operatives, said that RENURE represents a "sustainable fertiliser solution", amid growing pressure on EU farmers, as well as upcoming sanctions on fertiliser from Russia and Belarus.
Copa, along with the European Biogas Association (EBA) and the machinery industry representative body CEMA, sent a joint letter to the European commissioners for environment and agriculture (Jessika Roswall and Christophe Hansen respectively) calling on them to "unlock" the potential of RENURE.
According to Copa, RENURE could offer a local and sustainable solution that could "significantly" boost the EU's autonomy is fertiliser supplies.
"RENURE technologies, including certain digestates, are examples of farm-level innovation with multiple environmental and economic benefits - from reducing livestock emissions to producing high-quality fertilisers and substrates - and deserve greater recognition," Copa said.
"However, farmers need a clear and stable regulatory framework to invest and scale up these solutions," the farm group added.
The EU Vision for Agriculture and Food, which was revealed in February, cites RENURE as a potential way to reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture.
However, Copa said the current regulations "have failed to unlock this potential", and that RENURE "remains constrained" by the Nitrates Directive.
While the European Commission has proposed an amendment to the Nitrates Directive, Copa said this proposal is not fully aligned with RENURE criteria, nor with the principle of "technological neutrality", which would avoid "discriminating against any particularly technology".
"By laying down a limiting list of approved production methods, the draft amendment completely stifles innovation aimed at new, improved production methods, in direct opposition to the commission’s ambitions concerning competitiveness," Copa said.
"Furthermore, a new limitation of 100kg [of nitrogen per hectare per year] from RENURE is proposed in the amendment. As the key characteristic of RENURE is that the products are, or behave, identically to synthetic fertiliser, no such limitation should be included," the group added.
"At a time when farmers are being urged to adopt circular and sustainable fertilisation practices and face rising tariffs on imported fertilisers from Russia and Belarus, the lack of regulatory clarity is a perfect example, in our view, of the contradictory injunctions that the commission could resolve."
"This is why Copa and Cogeca, together with the EBA and CEMA, are calling on the Commission to act quickly and consistently. If it is serious about strategic autonomy, Europe cannot afford to overlook RENURE," Copa said.