Understanding nitrogen cycling to reduce losses from Australian cropping systems

⁠⁠⁠There are significant gaps in our knowledge of nitrogen (N) cycling and losses, soil organic matter (OM) fractions, and mineralisation potential in cropping soils, and many growers are not factoring declining soil OM into their N fertiliser decisions. This national investment will accurately measure N transformations in soils, N uptake in crops across rotations, and N losses at a number of medium to long-term core experimental sites representing the key cropping systems and soil types across Australia. Other data on N cycling will be generated by short-term field and glasshouse experiments. The data generated by this investment will be used primarily to inform the industry of the size of N losses from the grains production around the country, and their likely environmental impact. This knowledge will improve the ability of advisors and growers to predict N transformations and budgets in different systems, improving N recovery by the crop and maintenance of soil OM, while reducing losses due to volatilisation, denitrification and leaching. It will also inform any business case for future investment in solutions that may address these losses.