A new study from the University of Illinois looks at policy solutions to reduce nitrogen loss in fertilizer while protecting farmers’ bottom lines.
Researchers laid out these four policies: modifying price ratios, so the tax on nitrogen would be relative to corn prices; charging a fee for excess nitrogen leaching from fields above baseline lines; charging a fee for the balance between the amount of nitrogen removed in grant at harvest from that applied as fertilizer; and voluntary nitrogen reduction programs.
So far, the nitrogen leaching fee shows the best outcome.
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