Being part of an extensive network creates opportunities to make significant advances in research. The aim is to develop solutions to better quantify and manage nitrogen fluxes in agricultural soils.
Nitrogen is an essential plant nutrient which requires careful management – too little and the crop will suffer, too much produces a surplus which leaches into the ground water and creates a source of greenhouse gas emissions. However, quantifying and mitigating these emissions is challenging and often involves a great deal of uncertainty. The NitroScope project aims to address both points: more accurate emissions monitoring as a decision support tool for farmers and policy makers, and reducing agricultural emissions through advanced nitrogen management.
Aims of the new project
The NitroScope project will develop, validate and use sensor-based tools and models to monitor nitrate leaching and nitrous oxide emissions in real time. Furthermore, it will create a European nitrogen database and cloud platform, ensuring open access and harmonisation of soil, crop, and emission data. Farm management add-ons will be integrated into existing decision support systems to help farmers optimise fertiliser application with respect to timing and spatial distribution. It will help update the European nitrogen budget, for the first time in over two decades, using new data and advanced modelling.
Agroscope’s role in the project
Agroscope’s main contribution to this project is to measure nitrous oxide emissions and nitrogen leaching. In addition, researchers will model nitrogen losses for field crops in eight pedoclimatic regions of Europe, create remote sensing products and further develop methodologies for variable-rate (i.e. targeted) nitrogen fertiliser application.
The following Agroscope research groups are involved in this project:
Water Protection and Substance Flows (Annelie Holzkaemper, Maria Eliza Turek, Helge Aasen, Frank Liebisch), Digital Production (Michael Simmler, Simone Gerber, Thomas Anken), and Climate and Agriculture (Christoph Ammann).
