Five reasons why experts and agriculture will have more grass in the green transition.

Grass is scarcely mentioned in the agreement on a Green Denmark (), which the Danish government and the parties in the green three-party coalition signed in June.

The agreement stipulates that more than 15 percent of the total Danish agricultural land should become nature. This is primarily due to concerns about the Danish fjords, which are gasping for air due to nitrogen leaching from agriculture.

The agreement focuses on the state buying agricultural land, which will then be planted with new forests - or agricultural land becoming fallow or being flooded and turned into marshes and meadows.

This plan will cost at least 40 billion Danish crowns.

However, the money could be used more effectively if some agricultural land was instead turned into grasslands. Both experts and agriculture itself think so...

One of the experts is Professor Uffe Jørgensen from Aarhus University, who has contributed to a report () on how grass cultivation can reduce nitrogen leaching from agriculture to the Limfjorden.

He wants grass cultivation to play a larger role in making Denmark greener.

- There are really good provisions in the Green Agreement. I just think there are too few. It's like saying we'll solve all fossil emissions by saying we'll drive electric cars and have thicker walls in our houses, and that's it, says Uffe Jørgensen.

In agricultural circles, there is also much talk about grass cultivation being an alternative to fallowing or flooding fields.

Lars Kristensen, who is himself a farmer and second vice-president of the Limfjorden Farmers' Association, would like to see more grass - as he says:

- Brak is essentially dead soil. It requires no human intervention and therefore no jobs. If it's a large area that needs to be fallowed, it will also make large areas dead for habitation and settlement.

But why are experts and agriculture so happy about grass?

You'll find five reasons here:

Grass is harvested (Photo: © Michael Lyck Poulsen, DR)

Grass grows most of the year and is effective at utilizing nutrients. For example, less nitrogen is carried further to lakes and waterways.

Nutrient leaching from agricultural land is the most significant cause of eutrophication in our waters.

Limfjorden, for example, could meet the EU's requirements for good water quality if between a third and a quarter of the agricultural land around the fjord was converted to permanent grassland, according to Aarhus University's calculations ().

The Limfjorden Farmers' Association covers the entire Limfjorden region. In particular, Limfjorden is suffering from eutrophication due to nitrogen leaching.

Next vice-president of the Limfjorden Farmers' Association, Lars Kristensen, has his own land near the fjord:

- Grass grows almost all year round. Growth begins when the temperature is above six degrees. And with the temperatures we have these days, it's almost all year round that grass absorbs nutrients, he says.

Grass can be used in biogas plants and thus converted into energy, such as heating for homes.

Currently, grass can only make up a maximum of four percent of the raw material for biogas plants in Denmark. This is to limit the use of potential foodstuffs for energy production. The EU has determined this.

But if it is allowed to use more grass directly in biogas plants, grass could theoretically make up up to 50 percent of the raw material in gas production.

At Greenlab Biogas in Skive, director Christian Frandsen is ready for more grass in his biogas plant.

- I see no limitations on how much grass we can use. A biogas plant is just a big cow. It can eat a lot of grass, he says.

Denmark is a significant importer of soy for animal feed, but much of it comes from areas where crops displace rainforests. (Photo: © PAULO WHITAKER, Scanpix Denmark)

Grass and clover contain between 15 and 25 percent protein in their dry matter. Experiments with biorefining show that up to 40 percent of the protein can be extracted.

Grass protein can replace soy protein in animal feed mixtures. This gives the possibility of a Danish self-sufficiency with protein, which can replace imports of soy from, for example, South America, where soy cultivation threatens rainforests.

Denmark imports approximately 1.5 million tons of soy annually. This occupies around 760,000 hectares, primarily in South America. If this import needs to be replaced by grass protein, it would require a grass area of 979,000 hectares.

At the Danish Nature Conservation Association, land policy advisor Thyge Nygaard welcomes the idea of using grass to replace imported protein feed.

- Because it's a significant greenhouse gas emission. It doesn't count on the Danish balance sheet, but it's the climate that doesn't care, he says.

Grass is harvested (Photo: © Michael Lyck Poulsen, DR)

The Green Denmark Agreement () primarily focuses on forest planting, wetlands, and the withdrawal of agricultural land for natural purposes.

However, according to the Limfjorden Farmers' Association, which covers the entire Limfjorden region, grass cultivation could meet the environmental requirements in sensitive areas such as Limfjorden - and at the same time preserve jobs in agriculture and thus life on the land.

- Brak is essentially dead soil. It requires no human intervention and therefore no jobs. If large areas need to be withdrawn, it will also make large areas dead for habitation and settlement. However, there are countless jobs in grass cultivation, says Lars Kristensen, second vice-president of Fjordland.

Grass is not only good for the water quality in the Danish fjords. Animals, birds, and insects can also benefit from grasslands. (Photo: © PATRICK PLEUL, Patrick Pleul/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

Grasslands can contribute to preserving the open landscape along the fjords and coasts, where forest planting for environmental reasons is not feasible from a landscape perspective.

According to Aarhus University's report () from 2018 with the title 'Can reduction targets for nitrate leaching to Limfjorden be met by increased cultivation of biomass?'

Grass for biogas does not need to be cultivated as efficiently as grass for livestock feed. While grasslands for livestock feed are harvested four-five times a year, grass for biogas can make do with being harvested once or twice a year.

Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.