Scottish Nitrogen Balance Sheet, 2021

Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) is a summary indicator which can be calculated from the nitrogen flows in the Scottish Nitrogen Balance Sheet (SNBS). NUE is the ratio (expressed as a percentage) of useful nitrogen-containing output to all nitrogen inputs.

Table 1: In 2021, the whole economy NUE figure was 25 %.

Total inputs and useful inputs for various groups of Nitrogen flow pools, in kt N / yr, along with the resultant Nitrogen Use Efficiencies.

Note: Sectors of the economy not included in the above table have no significant useful outputs, and so if their Nitrogen Use Efficiencies were to be calculated they would be 0%.

In 2021, the whole economy NUE figure was 25%. Although the whole economy figure is dominated by food production, this figure is lower than the NUE for food production due to the inclusion of sources such as transport which produce no useful nitrogen outputs. The NUE for all food production is 29%, with the figure for agriculture ( 28%) being very similar, given that agriculture dominates food production. The 28% figure for all of agriculture comprises two extremely different values for arable agriculture ( 65%) and livestock based agriculture ( 10%). Livestock based agriculture is inherently less nitrogen efficient than arable agriculture because only a small proportion of the ingested nitrogen by livestock ends up in useful nitrogen-containing produce.

An Official Statistics Publication for Scotland

These statistics are official statistics. Official statistics are statistics that are produced by crown bodies, those acting on behalf of crown bodies, or those specified in statutory orders, as defined in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Scottish Government statistics are regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.