Estimating costs and potentials of different methods to reduce the Swedish phosphorus load from agriculture to surface water

This paper reviews 17 measures to reduce phosphorus leakage from Swedish agriculture to surface waters. Our aim is to evaluate the possible contribution from agriculture to achieve environmental goals including the Baltic Sea Action Plan. Using a regional approach integrating the variability in field specific characteristics, typical costs and national potential for the included measures may be estimated without identifying, e.g., suitable individual fields for implementation. The result may be helpful to select suitable measures but may also influence the design of environmental targets before they are determined.We find that the cheapest measures are reduced phosphorus content in animal food and fertilizer application supervision in pig farms, both measures with annual potentials of around 50 t each, and costs of €7 to €11 kg^− 1 yr^− 1. The total potential of the listed measures is an annual phosphorus reduction to surface waters of 242 t. If the most expensive measures are excluded (> €1000 kg^− 1 yr^− 1) and including retention in lakes the phosphorus transport to the sea could be reduced by 165 t yr^− 1. This amount can be compared with the Swedish commitment in the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP) to reduce input to the Baltic Proper by 290 t yr^− 1.