Origin Fertilisers will be discussing how farmers can navigate DEFRA’s Option 4 for spreading urea-based fertilisers when new requirements come into force in England in April 2024. The stand at LAMMA 24 will focus on protected urea options and the financial and environmental benefits when compared with applying straight urea.

Option 4 means growers wishing to spread urea fertilisers beyond 1 April 2024 need to apply urea products coated with urease inhibitors to reduce ammonia emissions. The primary aim of Option 4 is to keep access to urea for market competition but minimise the ammonia losses from volatilisation. Mandy McAulay, marketing manager at Origin Fertilisers, says understanding the requirements before buying will be essential for nutrition plans.

“Although the change may be seen by some as further red tape, growers should be looking at it as a chance to explore different fertiliser options, and applying a protected urea, that is treated with a urease inhibitor, can increase fertiliser efficiency over urea, spread accurately to 32m, and offer comparable returns to ammonium nitrate (AN).” 

Origin’s team of six in-house nutrition agronomists will be on stand offering expert advice on Origin Enhanced Nitrogen that is treated with Nutrisphere, a dual-acting inhibitor that differs from other urease inhibitors on the market. It is a highly water-soluble compound primarily created from fermentation of maize, and, as well as reducing volatilisation, Nutrisphere also acts as a nitrification inhibitor and reduces the risk of nitrates leaching into water. “Adopting this type of nutrient technology will see growers make more from any fertiliser they are willing to apply,” says Mandy.

A further part of the display will focus on improving the quality of grassland using Origin’s Sweetgrass fertiliser, which includes sodium to increase the palatability. It has shown increases in meat and milk production from home-grown forage when compared with a typical AN grassland application. Furthermore, a two-year trial reduced nitrogen input by 15% and still registered a 26% increase in total weight gain for lambs.

Origin Fertilisers will be on stand 11.210.