Nitrogen balance in the EU and in Poland
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Fig. 3.18 Balance of nitrogen applied in mineral fertilizers (source: based on figures given by Galloway and Bowling, 2002)
The polarization processes taking place in Polish agriculture concerning, inter alia, the agrarian structure and the intensity of agricultural production, are also visible in the results of nitrogen balance, confirming nitrogen’s important role as an indicator of the deepening of the existing regional agri-environmental diversity. The observed changes in nitrogen balance indicate that the increase in the intensity of agricultural production leads to lower production and economic efficiency of nitrogen utilisation, when it is not accompanied by corresponding modifications of the organizational and technological sphere of the production.