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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2006; v. 266; p. 171-181;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.2006.266.01.15
© 2006 Geological Society of London

Nutrient balances for improving the use-efficiency of non-renewable resources: experiences from Switzerland and Southeast Asia

H. Menzi1 & P. Gerber2

1 Swiss College of Agriculture (SHL), CH-3052 Zollikofen, Switzerland (e-mail: harald.menzi{at}shl.bfh.ch)
2 Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) — Livestock Environment and Development Initiative (LEAD), 00100 Rome, Italy

Simple nutrient balances can be a valuable tool to assess and visualize whether farming systems are in equilibrium or not with respect to nutrient inputs and outputs. Thus, they can raise awareness about environmental risks of agricultural production, and especially intensive livestock production. They are also a valuable tool for policy development and implementation processes. In this paper, we discuss how a nutrient-balance approach can help to improve the awareness of different stakeholders about the ecological impacts of agriculture and the efficient use of nutrients. While the example from Switzerland demonstrates the potential ecological benefits of compulsory nutrient balancing, the examples from Asia demonstrate how a combination of nutrient balancing and geographic information system (GIS) was used to identify hot-spots with respect to insufficient and excessive P input, and we will discuss a nutrient-balance method developed to improve nutrient management in the rapidly growing intensive livestock-production sector.





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