The government must "plan ahead" to protect food security and nature as farmers face escalating fertiliser prices, according to a new Sustainable Nitrogen Alliance report.

The report, 'Building Resilience in UK Food Production', argues that the UK's food security, rivers and wildlife depend on helping farmers reduce dependence on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser which is mostly imported and linked to international gas prices.

It highlights that nitrogen is an important nutrient used in soil for plant growth and food production, but that its manufacture and overuse as synthetic fertiliser is causing harm in the wider environment.

Government data indicates that 99% of England's protected nature sites are suffering from too much nitrogen in at least one part of their habitat, harming biodiversity such as wildflowers, which implicates bees and other pollinators.

The coalition of 13 environmental organisations is calling on the UK government to support farmers to reduce their use of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers, by shifting to natural fertilisers and adopting tried and tested farming practices like planting crops such as legumes, pulses and clovers which pulls nitrogen from the atmosphere into soils.

The report also sets out what's at stake for the climate. Fossil-fuel emissions released from synthetic fertiliser are the third largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide and methane. 

"Matter of national security"

Gareth Morgan, Head of Farming Policy for the Soil Association which convenes the Sustainable Nitrogen Alliance, spoke about ending fertiliser reliance at the Wild Summit event this week. This brought together influential voices working to restore nature across the UK.

He said: "This is a matter of national security. The government must plan ahead to create a funded transition away from fertiliser, rather than leave farmers and the UK's food supply dangerously exposed to market shocks.

"We already have the resources and knowledge available to make farming more resilient and protect nature by stopping overuse of expensive synthetic nitrogen fertiliser from harming our rivers and wildlife.  

"Disruption in the Strait of Hormuz this year brought to attention just how dependent the UK's food production system is on imported inputs. Figures recorded by Defra highlighted how a fifth of farms failed to make a profit in the 2024/2025 year, with fertiliser costs often making up a significant proportion of controllable farm expenditure.

"In the long-term, farms moving towards a lower-input or organic system should see more stable income, but they need help to make the change as they can face an income shortfall in the early years." 

The alliance highlights that support for low-input farming, including payments for organic conversion and management through initiatives such as the Welsh Sustainable Farming Scheme and the English Environmental Land Management Scheme, will be crucial if the long-term benefits of reducing dependency on synthetic fertiliser are to be achieved.

But reducing dependence on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser is not a quick fix, the report warns. It points to Sri Lanka's sudden restrictions on synthetic fertiliser in 2021, as an example of what can go wrong if farmers aren't supported to sustain productivity in their operations.

The report highlights those existing approaches, such as agroecological, organic and mixed farming systems that combines livestock and arable. These approaches, which were common before the intensification of farming after the Second World War, can help reduce dependency on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser and help protect nature in the process.

Research cited in the report also points to profitability gains of up to 45% in livestock systems and around 10% in arable and mixed systems where nature-friendly practices are adopted.

These approaches are already working on UK farms today.

Case study

In Suffolk, Shimpling Park Farm is a livestock and arable system that converted to organic 25 years ago. They are trialling many different nitrogen-fixing pulses that haven't traditionally been grown in this country, like chickpeas and lentils.

Fourth-generation farmer John Pawsey told the Sustainable Nitrogen Alliance how the farm improved soil health to strengthen food production through adopting practices like intercropping where two crops are grown together.

He said: "In times of instability where input costs are very high, there's no doubt that organic farm systems or systems that use less or no artificial nitrogen fertilisers are better placed to cope.

"In 2012, we had a very poor harvest. I realised that our monoculture system was too simple to adapt to climate change.

"The more crops you grow on your farm with different sowing dates, different types of crops, doing different things to the soil, you naturally build in resilience into your system. I believe that if we hadn't done it, we would have been less profitable than we are today."

Policy asks to government from the SNA:

• Government policy must support nature-friendly practices that help farmers reduce dependence on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser, including mixed farming and greater use of nitrogen-fixing plants, such as peas and beans found in organic systems
• Track nitrogen use annually, to understand better where it is being used and where it ends up in the environment.
• Develop a strategy, informed by this assessment, to help farming reduce its dependence on synthetic nitrogen fertiliser.
• Accelerate action on food waste across the food chain through a combination of incentives and regulation.
• Introduce public health policies that support healthier diets aligned with reduced synthetic nitrogen fertiliser-dependent food production.