“On one hand the government tells me that I have to act in an international market, and on the other it tells me that, because I’m in Denmark, I have to work under special conditions.”

That’s how Per Lindhardt, who farms 380ha on two sites 6km north of Slagelse, about 100km from Copenhagen, summarises his opinion of the government’s restrictions on nitrogen and pesticide use.

“I don’t understand the reasons and I don’t think it is fair. The government knows it is a problem [to compete], but it doesn’t care.”

The Danish pesticide action plan has two strands: A stricter approvals process that sees the withdrawal or non-approval of pesticides and political pressure on farmers to reduce their “treatment frequency index”, a measure of how many full doses are applied to a field in one year. The target is a TFI of 1.7. The stick is a pesticide tax of 33% on fungicides and herbicides and 54% on insecticides.

If that wasn’t bad enough, growers have to apply 10% less nitrogen than the economic optimum. Each grower gets a quota of N he can apply based on his cropping. For wheat the limit is 136kg/ha after oilseed rape and 176kg/ha for a second wheat.

The thinking is that reduction should not have much impact on yields or margins, says BASF’s Thorkild Amby. But he is less sure that will be true after the abolition of set-aside this autumn. “The national quota for nitrogen won’t go up, so there will be the same amount of nitrogen going on a larger area,” he suggests.

There is some flexibility in how growers can use their N quota, says Mr Linhardt’s agronomist Lars Albrecht Andersen of AgriPro. “Each crop has a quota, so as you make field plans you calculate how much N to buy for the farm. But you can move it around the farm.”

Using a Yara N Sensor system to variably apply across fields helps makes sure crops are fed more accurately for their needs, he says.

The pesticide tax, surprisingly, appears to have less impact – at least directly on yields. Mr Linhardt says pesticide prices are similar in Denmark to the UK even with the tax, although Mr Amby says manufacturers have a European pricing structure, and the Danes pay the tax on top.

UK growers looking at Mr Linhardt’s fungicide dose rates might find it hard to believe that the tax hasn’t lowered rates. Last year he was using just 0.15 litres/ha of Bell (boscalid+ epoxiconazole) plus 0.15 litres/ha of Opera (epoxicon-azole+pyraclostrobin)as a flag leaf spray. He spent about £32/ha in total on fungicides.

Despite increased grain prices, he does not believe he will be using higher rates this season. “I feel I have done it optimally up to now.” Resistant varieties and generally lower disease pressure help the Danes get away with such low rates, Mr Andersen suggests.

Timing is also important. “It is about being in at the right time with enough product.” But that’s getting more difficult with larger farms, and the TFI target doesn’t help, he points out. “The decision support systems developed are for when you see a problem in the field, but a lot of fungicides need to be applied protectively.”

But applying protectively actually helps reduce the TFI, Mr Lindhardt has found. In 2006 his was just 1.9, below the Danish average of 2.3. Even so, it doesn’t appear to factor too heavily in his decision making. “There is a lot of talk about TFIs, but when you’re standing in your crop you do what you need to. There is political pressure, but no penalty for individual farmers – just the threat of an increased tax.”

UK growers to face maximum n rates

• Similar N maximum limits could be in place for English and Welsh growers in NVZs if the Nitrates Directive proposals are implemented.
• The rules will set mandatory limits for the maximum N application rate that may be applied to specific crop types, averaged over the whole area of the crop type grown on your farm.
• The limit will be calculated as N applied as manufactured product plus the crop available N from organic manures applied to the crop.
• The wheat limit will be 220kg/ha for an 8t/ha crop, although extra N can be applied for higher yields and milling varieties.