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IPNI Overview

Better Crops, Better Environment … through Science

April 2011

Rob Norton,

Regional Director, Australia and New Zealand

Establishment and Foundation

• Potash Institute and then Potash and Phosphate Institute (PPI) trace back to 1930’s in Canada.

• IPNI officially began operations January 1, 2007.

– Inclusion of N producers

– Potash & Phosphate Institute (PPI) ceased to exist.

– PPI’s Board committed its scientific staff to IPNI.

• Not-for-profit international decentralized NGO.

• Supported by leading fertilizer manufacturers.

• Australia & New Zealand program began October, 2009.

Scientific Staff

IPNI is supported by leading fertilizer manufacturers and industry associations

Why do Farmers Use Nutrients?

… Return on Investment

What do food and fertilizer

have in common?

How much crop yield is attributable

to fertilization?

• Based on long-term studies that integrate the effects of year, climate, pest and disease stress, etc. …

• 40 to 60% of crop yield in the US is due to commercial fertilizer.

• P is second only to N in relative importance as a fertilizer nutrient.

Norman Borlaug – Nobel Peace Prize

Nutrients … a matter of balance

Removal Replacement

Not a new topic!

Nutrient Imbalances – a big part of the challenge in an open system

Vitousek et al., 2009, Science

BMPs related to nutrients …

• Fertilizer best management practices, integrated plant nutrient management, integrated soil fertility management, code of best agricultural practices, site-specific nutrient management, etc.

• Goal — ensure plant nutrients are use efficiently and effectively in ways that are beneficial to society without adversely impacting our environment

ECONOMIC

SOCIALECOLOGICAL

Global Framework For FertilizerBMPs

Cropping System

Sustainability

Biophysical & Social

Environment

Profitability

Productivity

4R Nutrient Stewardship

• The 4Rs are the foundation and guiding principles of nutrient BMPs (Roberts 2007)

• Right Product@Right Rate,

Right Time, Right Place™ system

• 4 R’s approach as a summary

• Evaluate impact of the BMP on Productivity, Profitability, Sustainability & Environment

– Mechanism – basic research

– Validation – applied research

– Recognition of risks

– Performance indicators

– Dynamic feedback from the practical level

http://www.ipni.net/4r

1. Supply in plant available forms

2. Suit soil properties

3. Recognize synergisms among

elements

4. Blend compatibility

1. Appropriately assess soil

nutrient supply

2. Assess all available

indigenous nutrient sources

3. Assess plant demand

4. Predict fertilizer use efficiency

1. Assess timing of crop uptake

2. Assess dynamics of soil nutrient

supply

3. Recognize timing of weather

factors

4. Evaluate logistics of operations

1. Recognize root-soil dynamics

2. Manage spatial variability

3. Fit needs of tillage system

4. Limit potential off-field

transport

The basic scientific principles of managing crop nutrients are universal

ECONOMIC

Net profit

Resource use Energyefficiencies: Labor

NutrientWater

Adoption

Return on investment

SOCIAL

Yield stability

Soil productivity

Water & air quality

Farm income

Working conditions

ECOLOGICAL

Nutrient balance

Nutrient loss

Yield

Quality

Soil erosion

Biodiversity

Ecosystem services

Productivity

Profitability

Cropping System

Sustainability

Biophysical & Social

Environment

Global Framework For FertilizerBMPs

Source

Time

Place

Rate

Importance of nutrient stewardship

• Manage or be managed

• Regulations on nutrient management

– Reef Regulations on sugar industry in the wet tropics

– Use of soluble P fertilizers on the Swan coastal plain.

– Fertilizer management in the Mississippi Basin

– Regulations on N use on particular dairy pastures in New Zealand.

• Industry BMP’s aim to describe, educate and then benchmark nutrient management.