SUSTAINABLE NITROGEN MANAGEMENT IN AUSTRALIAN AGROECOSYSTEMS: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Abstract

<List> <ListItem><ItemContent><p>● There is huge potential for improvement of nitrogen management in Australia.</p></ItemContent></ListItem> <ListItem><ItemContent><p>● N management should incorporate environmental, social and economic sustainability.</p></ItemContent></ListItem> <ListItem><ItemContent><p>● Agronomic, ecological and socioeconomic approaches and efforts are needed.</p></ItemContent></ListItem></List></p> <p>Nitrogen is an essential nutrient that supports life, but excess N in the human-environment system causes multiple adverse effects from the local to the global scale. Sustainable N management in agroecosystems, therefore, has become more and more critical to address the increasing concern over food security, environmental quality and climate change. Australia is facing a serious challenge for sustainable N management due to its emission-intensive lifestyle (high level of animal-source foods and fossil fuels consumption) and its diversity of agricultural production systems, from extensive rainfed grain systems with mining of soil N to intensive crop and animal production systems with excessive use of N. This paper reviews the major challenges and future opportunities for making Australian agrifood systems more sustainable, less polluting and more profitable.

Keywords

• australian agroecosystems|reactive nitrogen|sustainable development