Apparent recovery efficiency (ARE) of applied fertilizers has been commonly calculated as fertilizer use efficiency in China and reported low in a number of literatures. In this paper, a new method is proposed to calculate real nutrient use efficiency (RNUE), which refers to ratio of the nutrients absorbed by plants to the nutrients depleted from the soil. The depleted nutrients may come from the nutrients originally in the soil or from the applied fertilizer. The equation for RNUE calculation could be shown as: Nutrients absorbed by plants / (nutrients from fertilization – negative balance of the soil nutrient pool). RNUE could also be calculated as the difference between 100% and nutrients loss rate. The nutrients not used by plants but depleted from the topsoil are considered lost, while the nutrients remaining in the topsoil are not. Since both the nutrients remaining in soil nutrient pool and the nutrients used by plants come mainly from fertilization, the RNUE can be suggested as the real fertilizer use efficiency (RFUE). Based on the proposed method, the RFUE will be much higher than the ARE reported in China. The loss rate of fertilizer could also be calculated if RFUE is known since their sum is 100%. Thus calculation of RFUE could help us understand real contribution and real loss of the fertilizer in agriculture production and work out proper fertilization strategies, as well, in light of fertilizer loss rate and soil nutrient holding capacity. A proper right fertilization technique should aim to reduce loss rate of the fertilizer, instead of achieving high ARE since the meaning of high ARE is not so clear even though it has been widely used in China. Fertilizer recommendation for main field crops will not depend so much on soil testing, but rather on the knowledge of the consumption and loss rate of nutrients of the soil-crop systems in future.