AbstractBetween 1951 and 1970, the consumption of nitrogen fertilizers in the countries of the Community more than doubled in Belgium and the Netherlands, tripled in Germany, Luxembourg and Haly, and showed a more than fivefold increase in France: altogether, the countries of Europe (excluding the USSR) consume 38 per cent of world nitrogen production. Developing modem production techniques on this scale poses a threat to agriculture. The European Commission therefore asked a research group, under Professor A Noirfalise (Professor of Ecology at the Gembloux Faculty of Agronomic Sciences), to study the ‘Ecological consequences of applying modem production techniques to agriculture’. The article summarizes his conclusions and recommendations.