The Nitrogen Balancing Act: Tracking the Environmental Performance of Food Production

Author:

McLellan Eileen L1,Cassman Kenneth G2,Eagle Alison J1,Woodbury Peter B3,Sela Shai3,Tonitto Christina4,Marjerison Rebecca D5,van Es Harold M3

Affiliation:

1. Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, DC

2. Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska, Lincoln

3. Soil and Crop Sciences Section of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

4. Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture, and Development, Ithaca, New York

5. Agronomic Technology Corporation, Yara International Company

Abstract

Abstract Farmers, food supply-chain entities, and policymakers need a simple but robust indicator to demonstrate progress toward reducing nitrogen pollution associated with food production. We show that nitrogen balance—the difference between nitrogen inputs and nitrogen outputs in an agricultural production system—is a robust measure of nitrogen losses that is simple to calculate, easily understood, and based on readily available farm data. Nitrogen balance provides farmers with a means of demonstrating to an increasingly concerned public that they are succeeding in reducing nitrogen losses while also improving the overall sustainability of their farming operation. Likewise, supply-chain companies and policymakers can use nitrogen balance to track progress toward sustainability goals. We describe the value of nitrogen balance in translating environmental targets into actionable goals for farmers and illustrate the potential roles of science, policy, and agricultural support networks in helping farmers achieve them.

Publisher

Oxford University Press (OUP)

Subject

General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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