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Title: NUTRIENTS AND HIGH YIELDS: NEED FOR CONCERN?

Author
item Hatfield, Jerry
item ANGUS, JOHN - CSIRO, AUSTRALIA

Submitted to: Soil Science Society of America Annual Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/14/2002
Publication Date: 11/14/2002
Citation: HATFIELD, J.L., ANGUS, J.F. NUTRIENTS AND HIGH YIELDS: NEED FOR CONCERN?. SOIL SCIENCE SOCIETY OF AMERICA ANNUAL MEETING. 2002. CD-ROM. MADISON, WI.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Increasing demands for grain production for use as food will increase as the world population increases. At the same time there is a decrease in the amount of cultivated land for grain production. This dictates an increase in yield per unit area and more inputs into crop production, i.e., fertilizer. There is concern that increased amounts of fertilizer will lead to increased environmental risk. An evaluation of the trends in nitrogen fertilizer applied around the world reveals that China and Southeast Asia are the two regions with the greatest increase in N fertilizer used over the past 20 years. Managing nutrients for high yields will require more tools to aid in the decision-making process. Increasing crop yield and fertilizer inputs without increasing environmental risk can be achieved through improved management techniques that focus on the efficiency of nutrient utilization and quantifying the risk with nitrogen management decisions.