The 4R-BMP Concept: Enhanced Nutrient Management for Agricultural Sustainability and Food and Energy Security

Abstract

Improved nutrient management for crop production is a fundamental need for meeting the growing global demand for food, feed, fiber, and fuel and producing those crops in a way that is economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable. New technologies such as genetic manipulation and precision agriculture, along with traditional plant breeding, nutrient management, and conservation, are combined into the a global framework for nutrient best management practices (BMPs) to guide farmers and their advisers in meeting the nutrient needs of sustainable crop production. Nutrient management should be approached with the idea of improving nutrient use efficiency wherever possible. A combination of improved management systems, genetic developments, and technology, crop production systems in the USA as well as other parts of the world (see Vitale and Greenplate, Chap. 11; Borlaug et al., Chap. 12; Oikeh et al., Chap. 13) have improved efficiency for N, P, and K. Caution must be exercised to be sure the perceived increased efficiency is not achieved through mining of soil nutrient reserves (see Hatfield, Chap. 4). Progress toward improving nutrient use efficiency has been made in the USA and other parts of the world through improved genetics, better use of soil testing, and increased adoption of precision farming technologies. With systematic, site-specific combination of new technology and traditional practices, and paying more attention to details in crop management, the world’s farmers can meet their crop production challenges and at the same time more efficiently use and protect their resources into the future.

Crop production worldwide is challenged to nearly double by 2050 in order to meet the growing demand for food, feed, fiber, and fuel to support a global population of over nine billion. In its basic element, crop production is managing the process of photosynthesis to convert solar energy into chemical energy as carbohydrates. In order for farmers…and their plants…to accomplish this, they manage various inputs, including the 17 essential nutrients, and especially the 14 mineral nutrients. Of these the three needed in the greatest amounts are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Providing adequate amounts of N, P, and K is one of the basic challenges of a sustainable crop production system. Due to the overriding global concern about N in the environment and its more reactive nature, most of the discussion in this chapter will focus on N management as an example of the different challenges of nutrient management.