Nitrogen Fertilizer Rapid Assessment Project (NFRAP)

Overview

NFRAP addresses N losses from agriculture resulting from the use of N fertilizers. It has been designated one of the priority cross-cutting themes in the framework of the International Nitrogen Initiative (INI), and is one of a series of rapid assessment projects sponsored by SCOPE.

The overall objective of the NFRAP is to assess the fate of mineral fertilizer N in the context of total N inputs to agricultural systems, with a view to enhancing the overall efficiency of mineral N use and reducing impacts on the environment.

An international workshop was held in Kampala, Uganda, in January 2004. Background issues that were addressed prior to the workshop included:

• Regional variation in N inputs and sources (e.g., synthetic, manure, BNF)
• Challenges and opportunities for the fertilizer industry
• Methods and outcome of assessing N use efficiency, including the importance of scale
• Pathways and loss at different scales
• Interactions with other nutrients and nutrient cycles (including the carbon cycle) and water in N use efficiency
• Role of fertilizer N in sustaining food production (to include effect of changing attitudes to food consumption related to livestock production and environmental pollution)

A series of case studies reviewed issues related to specific agricultural systems (low N input, legume-based, integrated N input, high N input, high input integrated agriculture, organic farming, and finally new management systems, including precision farming, genetic engineering and plant production)

During the workshop, crosscutting working groups discussed:

• The efficiency of fertilizer N use as determined by product, method, and timing of application, soil, crop, and their interactions
• The role of emerging technologies (e.g., genetic enhancement, fertilizer modification, and remote sensing and other site-specific precision technologies) on the efficiency of fertilizer N use
• The pathways of N loss and their impacts on human health and the environment (including soil degradation)
• Societal responses to meeting N input needs in different regions (including national policies on fertilizer use).

Coordinators

Arvin Mosier, co-chair; Keith Syers, co-chair, Mateete Bekunda, local host.

Scientific Steering Committee

Co-Chairs: Arvin Mosier (USA) & Keith Syers (Thailand), Members: Mateete Bekunda (Uganda), John Freney (Australia), James Galloway (USA), Robert Howarth (USA), Luc Maene (France).

Project Supporters

International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA); International

Geosphere-Biosphere Program (IGBP); United States Department of Agriculture (Foreign Agricultural Service and Agricultural Research Service); Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training (START);  International Nitrogen Initiative (INI); USAID-Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Program-Uganda; Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).

Products

There are two products for the SCOPE/IGBP Nitrogen Fertilizer Rapid Assessment Project.  The first, The Executive Summary, is available for download as a PDF below.

The second is a scientific synthesis monograph scientific synthesis monograph, Agriculture and the Nitrogen Cycle: Assessing the Impacts of Fertilizer Use on Food Production and the Environment(A. R. Mosier, J. K. Syers, and J. R. Freney, Eds), in the SCOPE series. The volume will be presented at the 3rd International Nitrogen Conference in Nanjing in October 2004.

NFRAP Executive Summary

Timeline

• Planning, May 2003 to January 2004
• Workshop, January 12-16 2004
• Book publication, October 2004

Additional Information

A. Mosier, (arvin.mosier(at)ars.usda.gov)