Danish farmers are beginning autumn sowing without knowing their individual nitrogen emission quotas under the new fertilizer law, and the official calculation tool and guidance are still pending.
Farm advisory associations are receiving a steady stream of calls from frustrated farmers, DR reported on September 8. According to DR Nyheder, the confusion follows the adoption of the gødskningslov in Folketinget last week. Farmers say they do not know how to sow their fields without risking a conflict with the new rules.
Poul Rokkjær Madsen, team leader and crop advisor at the farm association Agillix, told DR he has never seen a situation like it in 42 years in the industry. He said the rules are not known with full certainty. He and his colleagues still run calculations for clients, but must warn that the results may change.
The law changes how agricultural nitrogen discharge is regulated. Future rules focus on where fields are located and which water environment the nitrogen ends up in. Each farm receives a quota for how much nitrogen its production may discharge, based on what the local water environment can tolerate.
Sowing decisions made before quotas are known
Kjeld Villadsen, who farms five kilometers from Nibe, has already sown his winter rapeseed. He said the law may mean converting that area to spring barley with catch crops next spring, once he knows his quota. Lars Iversen, chairman of the Funen association L&F Centrovice and himself a farmer, said the regulation is highly individual and that some farms will be hit hard.
Martin Hjort Jensen, farmer and vice chairman of Landbrug & Fødevarer, said the organization has also received many inquiries. He expects farmers to receive details on how the law affects individual holdings at the end of September.
Brian H. Jacobsen, associate professor of agricultural economics at the University of Copenhagen, told DR the farmers are in a very difficult position. He said decisions taken without a full overview can carry significant costs. He suggested an adjustment year with softer implementation, for example requiring 80 percent of the demands in the first year.
Styrelsen for Grøn Arealomlægning og Vandmiljø wrote to DR that farmers will be able to see their emission quota in a tool opening in September this year. The agency added that it is holding webinars for all farmers and will send guidance out for consultation once individual emission quotas and baseline leaching limits are published.
According to LP Ekstra, Folketinget adopted the law, known as L 5, on September 3, 2026, with 119 votes for and 34 against. The reporting states that individual quotas apply from 2027. Preliminary discharge limits were published in June 2026, per the agency’s statement via Ritzau, with final limits and a planning tool following in September 2026.
The fertilizer law was adopted after months of farmer protests. The field-level, discharge-based regulation is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027.
