The Nutrient Management TWG focused on the potential to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including CO2 and N2O, through agricultural nutrient management practices. This TWG has worked on two reports at the request of NRCS: Biostimulants and Climate Outcomes: Literature Review and Enhanced Efficiency Fertilizers and Climate Outcomes: Literature Review.

The work on enhanced efficiency fertilizer (EEF) seeks to synthesize existing systematic reviews to assess the effectiveness of EEFs in reducing reactive nitrogen losses and effects on yield in temperate corn systems, especially those relevant to the U.S. Midwest. This work is still in progress and is expected to be completed in 2025 and published in 2026.

The biostimulants report reviews the state of knowledge on GHG mitigation potential of select biostimulants (also referred to as bioamendments). The authors examine the impacts on N2O and carbon sequestration and identify the need for expanded long term research to understand the large suite of biostimulants products.

The Nutrient Management Group is also in the process of developing a research prospectus to lay out the data collection and research necessary for a comprehensive scientific understanding of the impacts of nutrient management on GHG emissions across geographies and production systems in the U.S. The focus is on stakeholder-informed research geared towards establishing a scientific foundation for provision of technical guidance to achieve GHG mitigation.

SUMMARY

TWG MEMBERS

• Justin Baker (chair), North Carolina State

• Heather Darby, University of Vermont

• Matt Ruark, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Mike Badzmierowski, World Resources Institute

• Mike Castellano, Iowa State University

• Sylvie Brouder, Purdue University

  Research Assistants:

  • Monica Schauer, Research Director, Nitrogen Optimization Pilot Program, University of Wisconsin-Madison

NETWORK REPORTS

• Biostimulants and Climate Outcomes: Literature Review