Soil nutrient management: fueling agroecosystem sustainability

Agricultural production must approximately double to support global population by 2050. Practices optimizing crop yield, nutrient use efficiency (NUE; fraction of applied nutrient taken up by crop) and environmental quality are essential. Nutrient management plans specify needed crop nutrients and p...

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Main Author: Eric O. Young
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2020-11-01
Series:International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2020.1792679
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author Eric O. Young
author_facet Eric O. Young
author_sort Eric O. Young
collection DOAJ
description Agricultural production must approximately double to support global population by 2050. Practices optimizing crop yield, nutrient use efficiency (NUE; fraction of applied nutrient taken up by crop) and environmental quality are essential. Nutrient management plans specify needed crop nutrients and practices for mitigating losses, however seasonal dynamics are generally poorly accounted for. Given the profound impact of weather on crop growth and nutrient dynamics, more widespread use of models driven by weather and spatially explicit soil processes offers an opportunity to improve NUE and mitigate farm risk. Maize and sugarcane require large amounts of nitrogen (N) and both advanced tools and routine testing are needed to improve NUE. Real-time crop yield, weather and soil data for precision agriculture is becoming commonplace on large farms. Progress with dynamic simulation models for maize suggest that including weather and soil processes into predictive models improves NUE compared to static N rate recommendation. Whole-farm dairy system models aim to simulate all major biophysical farm components to better quantify dynamic nutrient loss paths. Greater adoption of precision-based soil nutrient management practices offers the potential to enhance agroecosystem NUE, environmental quality and mitigate crop production risk.
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spelling doaj.art-5dafca42f223400680ae2a38a4bb3b8c2023-09-19T15:22:21ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Agricultural Sustainability1473-59031747-762X2020-11-0118644444810.1080/14735903.2020.17926791792679Soil nutrient management: fueling agroecosystem sustainabilityEric O. Young0USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Dairy Forage Research Center, Environmentally Integrated Dairy Management Research UnitAgricultural production must approximately double to support global population by 2050. Practices optimizing crop yield, nutrient use efficiency (NUE; fraction of applied nutrient taken up by crop) and environmental quality are essential. Nutrient management plans specify needed crop nutrients and practices for mitigating losses, however seasonal dynamics are generally poorly accounted for. Given the profound impact of weather on crop growth and nutrient dynamics, more widespread use of models driven by weather and spatially explicit soil processes offers an opportunity to improve NUE and mitigate farm risk. Maize and sugarcane require large amounts of nitrogen (N) and both advanced tools and routine testing are needed to improve NUE. Real-time crop yield, weather and soil data for precision agriculture is becoming commonplace on large farms. Progress with dynamic simulation models for maize suggest that including weather and soil processes into predictive models improves NUE compared to static N rate recommendation. Whole-farm dairy system models aim to simulate all major biophysical farm components to better quantify dynamic nutrient loss paths. Greater adoption of precision-based soil nutrient management practices offers the potential to enhance agroecosystem NUE, environmental quality and mitigate crop production risk.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2020.1792679agricultureecosystem servicesfood securitynutrient managementprecision agriculturesoil healthsystems modellingwater qualitywhole-farm
spellingShingle Eric O. Young
Soil nutrient management: fueling agroecosystem sustainability
International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability
agriculture
ecosystem services
food security
nutrient management
precision agriculture
soil health
systems modelling
water quality
whole-farm
title Soil nutrient management: fueling agroecosystem sustainability
title_full Soil nutrient management: fueling agroecosystem sustainability
title_fullStr Soil nutrient management: fueling agroecosystem sustainability
title_full_unstemmed Soil nutrient management: fueling agroecosystem sustainability
title_short Soil nutrient management: fueling agroecosystem sustainability
title_sort soil nutrient management fueling agroecosystem sustainability
topic agriculture
ecosystem services
food security
nutrient management
precision agriculture
soil health
systems modelling
water quality
whole-farm
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14735903.2020.1792679
work_keys_str_mv AT ericoyoung soilnutrientmanagementfuelingagroecosystemsustainability