THERE IS NO COST-EFFECTIVE TOOL CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO MONITOR ENVIRONMENTAL FOOTPRINT ASSOCIATED WITH NITROGEN (N) INPUTS IN AGRO-ECOSYSTEMS ("N FOOTPRINT"). OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO DEVELOP A WEBBASED PLATFORM TO ARCHIVE AND SYNTHESIZE FARMER FIELD DATA ON YIELD AND N INPUTS AND TO ESTIMATE N FOOTPRINT AT DIFFERENT SPATIAL SCALES (E.G., FIELD, WATERSHED, REGION). THE RATIONALE IS THAT DEVELOPING SUCH A PLATFORM WILL LEAD TO NEW INSIGHTS ON HOW TO MINIMIZE N FOOTPRINT AND TO AN IMPROVED CAPABILITY TO MEASURE IMPACT OF POLICY AND RESEARCH AND EXTENSION PROGRAMS. OUR AIM IS TO ESTABLISH A PLATFORM FOR FARMER FIELD DATA ARCHIVE AND DELIVERY TO END-USERS. THE N FOOTPRINT WILL BE ESTIMATED FOR EACH FARMER FIELD FOLLOWING AN APPROACH THAT USES A SMALL NUMBER OF READILY-AVAILABLE PARAMETERS. DATA WILL BE SYNTHESIZED AND UPSCALED FROM FIELD TO LARGER AREAS USING A SPATIAL FRAMEWORK THAT ACCOUNTS FOR CLIMATE AND SOIL VARIATION. THESE ACTIVITIES WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED LEVERAGING ON EXISTING DATA (≈150,000 FIELD RECORDS) AND A CONSOLIDATED NETWORK OF COLLABORATORS, INCLUDING SCIENTISTISTS FROM UNIVERSITIES, ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCIES, FARMER GROUPS, AND INDUSTRY. THE PLATFORM WILL SERVE AS AN OPEN-ACCESS TOOL FOR BENCHMARKING N INPUTS USE IN FARMER FIELDS AND FOR MONITORING N FOOTPRINT OVER TIME AND AT DIFFERENT SPATIAL SCALES. ANALYSIS OF N FOOTPRINT ACROSS DIVERSE BIOPHYSICAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS WILL INCREASE THE SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE ABOUT DRIVERS OF N FOOTPRINT IN AGRO-ECOSYSTEMS. THE PLATFORM WILL AMPLIFY THE RETURN ON INVESTMENTS OF RESEARCH AND EXTENSION PROGRAMS ASSOCIATED WITH N FOOTPRINT AND CONTRIBUTE TO BETTER PRIORITIZATION, POLICY-MAKING, AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT.

Board Of Regents Of The University Of Nebraska

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