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Cited by 565Soil and Water Nutrient DynamicsAquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton DynamicsSustainable Agricultural Systems Analysis

Agriculture and Eutrophication: Where Do We Go from Here?

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Withers, Paul, Neal, Colin, Jarvie, Helen, Doody, Donnacha·2014·Sustainability
DOI 10.3390/su6095853
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Abstract

The eutrophication of surface waters has become an endemic global problem. Nutrient loadings from agriculture are a major driver, but it remains very unclear what level of on-farm controls are necessary or can be justified to achieve water quality improvements. In this review article, we use the UK as an example of societies’ multiple stressors on water quality to explore the uncertainties and challenges in achieving a sustainable balance between useable water resources, diverse aquatic ecosystems and a viable agriculture. Our analysis shows that nutrient loss from agriculture is a challenging issue if farm productivity and profitability is to be maintained and increased. Legacy stores of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) in catchments may be sufficient to sustain algal blooms and murky waters for decades to come and more innovation is needed to drawdown and recover these nutrients. Agriculture’s impact on eutrophication risk may also be overestimated in many catchments, and more accurate accounting of sources, their bioavailabilities and lag times is needed to direct proportioned mitigation efforts more effectively. Best practice farms may still be leaky and incompatible with good water quality in high-risk areas requiring some prioritization of society goals. All sectors of society must clearly use N and P more efficiently to develop long-term sustainable solutions to this complex issue and nutrient reduction strategies should take account of the whole catchment-to-coast continuum. However, the right balance of local interventions (including additional biophysical controls) will need to be highly site specific and better informed by research that unravels the linkages between sustainable farming practices, patterns of nutrient delivery, biological response and recovery trajectories in different types of waterbodies.

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  • Under current climatic conditions, erosion and nutrient leakage from agricultural land is substantial and an important cause of deterioration of marine and terrestrial aquatic ecosystems.

    “Under current climatic conditions, erosion and nutrient leakage from agricultural land is substantial and an important cause of deterioration of marine and terrestrial aquatic ecosystems (84,85).”

    From Restoring Degraded Lands (2021) · cites this paper as [85]

    The Introduction and §3.1 describe agricultural nutrient leakage as a major contributor to eutrophication and degraded inland and coastal waters. §2 identifies erosion as a pathway for nutrient loss, but the passages do not establish that erosion itself is substantial under current climatic conditions. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Withers, P., Neal, C., Jarvie, H., & Doody, D.
Affiliations
  • Bangor University (GB)
  • UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (GB)
  • Agri Food and Biosciences Institute (GB)
Corresponding author
Withers, Paul
ORCID
Venue
Sustainability
Publisher
MDPI AG
Published
2014-09-02
Volume
6
Issue
9
Pages
5853-5875
ISSN
2071-1050 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3390/su6095853
OpenAlex
W2055208823
Cited by
565
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 47 · 2025: 71 · 2024: 52 · 2023: 75 · 2022: 64 · 2021: 61 · 2020: 45 · 2019: 48 · 2018: 42 · 2017: 28 · 2016: 20 · 2015: 11
FWCI
14.97
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Sustainability (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • NERC Open Research Archive (Natural Environment Research Council) (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Bangor University Research Portal (Bangor University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Soil and Water Nutrient Dynamics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Aquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton Dynamics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Sustainable Agricultural Systems Analysis
Keywords
nutrient loading, nitrogen, phosphorus, algal blooms, nutrient reduction strategies, water quality, sustainable agriculture, nutrient bioavailability, water resources management

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