Fertiliser practice in England and Wales: A new series of surveys

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Abstract
Aims and methods for a series of surveys, begun in 1969, in England and Wales, are described. The surveys are designed to monitor changes in practice on individual crops for the whole country and to provide estimates, based on data collected aver 3–4 years, of practice within regions of defined farming type.Survey estimates of fertiliser consumption in 1969 agree well with subsidy claims. Since 1966, the amount of N used per acre on tillage crops has increased at an average rate similar to that for the previous decade (nearly 3 units/acre/year), but on grassland, the recent increase has been greater. Use of P and K has also increased on tillage crops since 1966 but has hardly changed on grassland.The average manuring of most crops in 1969 was within the range of current general recommendations, but most sugar‐beet had too much N, P and K per acre. Spring cereals might profit from more N, but the average use of P on winter wheat and of K on potatoes, especially early varieties, seems more than adequate.More N was used on all types of grassland in 1969 than in 1966; increases were greatest on the 15% of acreage which was strip‐grazed or cut for silage. Most grassland in England and Wales is not intensively managed and the proportion that is has increased little since 1966.For spring barley, leys and permanent grass, comparative estimates are given of average practice in arable, mixed farming, dairying and livestock farming regions.

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