Smart Nitrogen Management for Diverse Cropping Systems

Precision farming, Real-time management, Decision support, Diversification

3 years

Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 to 7

Introduction

The project will develop practical software solutions and innovations that help farmers to improve and optimize nitrogen management considering different sustainability impacts. Diversification of farming systems that supports sustainability, climate resilience and several ecosystem services provided by agriculture will be studied in the context of precision farming. The project aims to optimally combine diversification and improved precision fertilizer management.

The developed tools will be based on field data collected from Finland, Denmark and Germany and support farmers to diversify their cropping systems and to improve precision nitrogen management. Different digital and precision farming tools can help the adoption of new crops and managing the weather variability.

Background

Adoption of new crops and cultivars with different requirements and the changing climatic conditions with increased frequency of various extreme conditions causes new challenges in crop management for farmers. Precision N management is often done as sensor or map based relying on the spatial variability of crops and adjust dynamically the N fertilization. This approach also fails to account for the soil and weather impacts on the N dynamics. For example, soil N supply can greatly determine the crop response to additional exogenous fertilization. Also, water stress can have confounding effects of detection of N stresses. Considering these combined effects need to be considered in precision farming tasks. There is also a shortage of easy-to-use tools for analysing he quality of precision management for on-farm use. Precise implementation and analysis of the quality of past management decisions are paramount to long term success in farming.

Main project activities

  • The project will produce several methods, open-source software tools and knowledge to optimally combine diversification and improved precision fertilizer management.

  • Develop user cantered tools for VRNA management decisions with leveraging multiple information sources. Information from nitrogen and soil property maps and reliable yield forecasts will be combined while taking into account spatial and temporal variability.

  • Optimize the variable rate nitrogen application in the field with improved interaction of application system and prescription map based on a ballistic granule model.

  • Develop open-source tools for farmers to analyze and monitor the effect of their management decisions over time.

  • Encourage farmers to use decision support systems and tools to diversify the farming systems with crop rotations and smart use of cover crops.

Expected social impact

The developed methods and decision support systems will directly benefit farmers by improving profitability and reducing the negative environmental impacts of farming. The lack of planning and analysis tools has been identified as an important barrier for precision farming adoption and the development of new tools can facilitate the further adoption of VRNA technologies with potential of up to 5-35% N savings depending on the field properties and climatic conditions.

Implementation and plans to reach target groups

The project results will be published in leading scientific journals and presented in several international conferences. The partners will also present the results and seek collaborations through existing networks. Farmers and agricultural industry will be targeted trough field days (part of larger events organized by the partner organizations) and attendance at agricultural fairs. Popular articles will be published in farmers journals. The dissemination in social media will be done via the websites and social media accounts of the partners.

Partners of the project

  • Matti Pastell, Natural Resource Institute Finland (Luke), Finland

    Matti Pastell

    • Hochschule Geisenheim University, Germany - Dimitrios Paraforos

    • Aarhus University, Denmark - Davide Cammarano

    • Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MMM), Finland

    • Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries of Denmark (MFVM), Denmark

    • Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), Germany