EU and UK Biofuel Policies Leave Farmers Struggling with Fertilizer Costs

The European Union and UK's reliance on food crops for biofuels is still substantial, despite policy changes. Approximately half of biofuels in the EU and UK come from food crops, with around 10 Mt of vegetable oils used for biodiesel and HVO, alongside roughly 14 Mt of grains like wheat and corn and 3 Mt of sugar crops for ethanol production.

The cultivation of these crops requires significant chemical inputs, particularly fertilizers. To sustain high yields, farmers need to balance the use of nitrogen (N), phosphate (P₂O₅) and potash (K₂O), the key nutrients underpinning modern agricultural production.

Combining crop-specific nutrient data from the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) with European biofuel feedstock use, we estimate that biofuels currently consume approximately 0.8 million tonnes of nitrogen, 0.2 Mt of phosphate, and 0.2 Mt of potash. This represents roughly 8% of EU and UK total fertiliser nutrients used toward fuel production rather than food.