The European agricultural sector is today facing a dual challenge, both economic and environmental. On the one hand, the economic situation of farmers forces them to provide the accurate dose of nutrients required by soils and crops.

On the other, the drive of farmers, public authorities and citizens to limit the environmental effects of agriculture also encourages “precision” fertilisation.

The value of precision fertilisation for the European agricultural sector has already been recognised by institutional and industrial actors and constitutes an important element of sustainable farming practices.

This key subject is now all the more topical in light of the ongoing revision of the Fertilisers Regulation. Therefore, ABEAN’s aim is to bring together institutional, industrial and civil society actors in order to contribute to the debate surrounding the revision and further explore the advantages of precision fertilisation.

The debate will be structured around the following three topics:

• Precision agriculture in Europe: economic and environmental challenges

• The fertiliser sector’s response to the challenges of precision farming

• The importance of access to raw materials for precision fertilisation

The Association for Better European Access to Nutrients was created to improve the access of the European stakeholders to the nutrients that are essential to crops’ growth. Its members include 1,000,000 farmers, 3,000 fertiliser distributors and cooperatives, 700 blenders and compound fertiliser plants and logistic operators. They decided to join ABEAN having realised that European agricultural competitiveness could be improved through better access to nutrients: better quality fertilisers, secured availability and a fair price compared to other major agricultural regions with whom European farmers compete. This also means providing what is strictly necessary in the right place at the right time according to the crops, climates, soil types and intermittent deficiencies in nutrients.