Nitrogen optimization: Strategies to address the climate crisis in food production

Food production has increased worldwide strongly in the last 20 years in response to population growth, with a significant impact on the countries of the Americas. This is owed to their agricultural potential, in terms of land area and climatic conditions suitable for agriculture. However, the maintenance of this productivity, as well as its future potential development, depends on the effects of climate change, and the strategies proposed to face the climate crisis, to maintain and increase food production under more sustainable systems. The use of nitrogen-based fertilizers in agricultural soils is an essential requirement for food production, however, it is responsible for the generation of nitrous oxide (N2O), which is a potent greenhouse gas that is generated in the soil by biochemical processes for degradation. In most countries, considering the agriculture sector, this greenhouse gas is the second most important, after methane (CH4) produced by enteric fermentation, and has important implications for global warming. This has prompted different actions involving the public and private sectors, to promote its mitigation, including the development of site-specific emission factors and of best management practices that promote the use of the Right N source, the Right rate, the Right moment and the Right place of application (4Rs). This technical cooperation (TC) is made up of Chile, Argentina, Peru, Panama and the Dominican Republic, countries that need to build capacities on greenhouse emission measurements to determine emissions factors based on locally marketed nitrogen sources and evaluate the doses of fertilizer commonly used by farmers. This baseline information is essential to define and evaluate mitigation strategies ensuring food production. For this, each country of the TC will evaluate, under field conditions, the production and emission of N2O, to determine nationally specific emission factors, for different nitrogen sources, doses, and times of the year. They will also develop mitigation strategies to reduce emissions while maintaining yields. Results of this work will be disseminated to the public and private sectors directly and through the partners of this proposal. The project is funded by the New Zealand Government as part of its contribution to the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA).