Nitrogen, whether from synthetic fertilizer or manure, is at the heart of agricultural productivity. But that productivity can come with costs: high and sometimes volatile input expenses for farmers and environmental and climate impacts for society.
The upside is that innovations to use nitrogen much more efficiently offer win-win opportunities: lower costs and potentially higher yields for farmers; cleaner air and water and significant climate benefits for the rest of us.
A group of leading agricultural researchers is now working to develop new varieties of corn that could dramatically improve nitrogen efficiency. Earlier this year, Iowa State University and Spark Climate Solutions co-hosted a workshop to explore the opportunities and challenges in bringing these next-generation systems to scale.
To unpack key takeaways from the workshop, we interview two experts and two Iowa producers to get their perspectives:
They discuss how nitrogen-efficient corn varieties show real promise in terms of increasing yields and reducing nitrogen loss—but whether farmers adopt them depends on their profitability and how consistently they perform under different soils, weather patterns, and management styles. Establishing what works and is easily deployable will require more research, testing, and collaboration between scientists and producers.
Maria, let’s start with the big picture. Why does reducing nitrogen loss matter?
Maria: Nitrogen is absolutely essential for crop and livestock production. But it creates two big challenges: 1) it’s a costly input for producers–especially with fertilizer prices having risen in the wake of the war with Iran, and 2) when nitrogen winds up in the air and water, it can have really negative impacts for the climate and for water quality. The goal is to develop tools that can solve both problems: reducing nitrogen losses and improving efficiencies while lowering costs for producers.
Lost nitrogen is lost productivity and lost profit. Keeping more of that nitrogen in the system where it can be used by crops or livestock can lower costs for fertilizer or livestock feed. There’s also a huge environmental opportunity. Tightening up the leaks in the system and improving nitrogen use efficiency reduces nitrous oxide emissions, a potent greenhouse gas about 275 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. It also reduces nitrate runoff, which impacts water quality.
Many of the most promising innovations—like new corn varieties that use nitrogen more efficiently—need additional research and development to bring them to market and make them cost-effective for producers. While this workshop focuses specifically on cropping system innovations, we know that in order to have the kind of transformative impact we’d like to see on the climate and water quality, we need multiple innovations to happen at the same time across crop and livestock systems. This workshop, which is the first in a series, was an exciting opportunity to bring together a diverse group of scientists, farmers, and agricultural businesses to take a hard look at what’s really needed to move forward a specific innovation in cropping systems with large potential gains.
“Lost nitrogen is lost productivity and lost profit.”
Mike, much of the workshop focused on new corn varieties being developed and modeled as part of the CERCA project (Circular Economy that Reimagines Corn Agriculture). Can you explain what CERCA is?
Mike: CERCA aims to transform nitrogen use efficiency in corn through a systems approach that integrates agronomy and plant sciences. The core idea is that modern corn has two weaknesses baked into its evolutionary history: it doesn’t grow well in cool conditions of early spring, and it devotes a large share of its nitrogen uptake to grain proteins that add little food or feed value given today's end-uses. CERCA tackles these weaknesses by pursuing three integrated approaches:
Together, these traits aim to make corn use nitrogen more like a perennial, while still performing as a high-yielding annual crop.
Kellie, from a producer perspective, what would it take for these types of new corn varieties to work for you, on your farm?
Kellie: As a farmer, there are always new corn products to look at, but CERCA would be a different perspective than weed control packages, disease tolerance, and insect protection. A product that we can plant earlier, that will use more sunlight and be more efficient with nitrogen that will translate to yield, will get my attention.
Nitrogen is a moving target every single year. The type of fertilizer, when you apply it, how much rain you get, how warm the soil is—there are a lot of ways nitrogen can slip away before the crop ever sees it. If a corn plant could hold onto more nitrogen and use it more efficiently, that could change how we plan a season.
But the bottom line is profitability. A new variety has to deliver a consistent yield and perform across different soils, weather patterns, and management styles.
“The bottom line is profitability.”
Chris, same question: what would it take for these types of new corn varieties to work for you, on your farm?
Chris: To adapt to the CERCA corn, the yield would need to be either comparable to what we currently have or proportionately less in conjunction with the amount of reduced fertilizer for the crop.
Essentially, we need to maintain or improve profitability.
There doesn’t have to be a fertilizer reduction as long as productivity is maintained, but lower input costs are always helpful to lower our overhead costs. Luckily, there aren’t really changes needed to plant earlier—the equipment would be the same, it just moves timing up some. The main changes we would need to make on our operation would be changes to how we manage our cover crops. For example, we might need to implement new kinds of cover crops or change the system to accommodate the earlier corn planting.
Mike, how does CERCA align with Chris’ and Kellie’s points about profitability, and what are the next steps for making it a reality?
Mike: It's very aligned. For farmers, the biggest potential benefits of CERCA varieties are higher yields and lower nitrogen needs. The soil produces significant amounts of nitrogen before corn is growing fast enough to take it up; similarly, day length is longest before corn reaches its peak rate of photosynthesis. Earlier planting means corn captures more soil nitrogen and sunlight, which modeling suggests could raise yields by over 10%, while cutting nitrogen losses by 20% or more. Further, recycling nitrogen within the plant—rather than removing it in the grain—means less fertilizer is needed, directly lowering input costs. For the environment and broader society, the gains come from the same mechanism: nitrogen that stays on the farm or in the plant is nitrogen that isn't leaching into groundwaters or streams, or escaping to the atmosphere. Because corn is grown at such enormous scale, even modest percentage improvements in nitrogen efficiency translate into meaningful reductions in water pollution and agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.
The next steps are discovery and testing. On discovery, we're mining genetic diversity well beyond elite corn breeding lines to find genes that already confer cold tolerance or efficient nitrogen recycling in nature. Several of these populations and crosses are already in the field. On testing, we're screening germplasm at multiple locations across the country for cold germination, seedling survival, reduced grain nitrogen, and nitrogen remobilization to roots, while using the data from these tests to build crop and soil models that let us predict which trait combinations will actually pay off for farmers and the environment before we invest years in breeding them.
“[New approaches] could raise yields by over 10%, while cutting nitrogen losses by 20% or more.”
Maria, zooming back out: corn breeding is one pathway to reduce nitrogen loss from agriculture. What are some of the other pathways being explored?
Maria: In U.S. cropping systems, there are multiple pathways—such as innovations in fertilizer application technologies and ‘precision conservation’ techniques—to reduce nitrogen losses and improve nitrogen use efficiency. Some of which we got into at the workshop and some of which we will dig into in subsequent discussions.
At Spark, we look across the whole agricultural system to find where nitrogen use could be improved. For example, developing new corn varieties could also create opportunities to reduce nitrogen losses from livestock production. Because a significant fraction of the protein in corn grain isn’t very digestible by livestock, much of the nitrogen in that protein is lost in urine and feces. Reduced-protein corn grain, coupled with a shift to more efficient livestock rations with more digestible protein sources such as urea, soybean meal, dried distillers grains, and amino acids, could reduce nitrogen losses. For the remaining nitrogen that is lost in manure, there are opportunities to improve how it is stored, processed, recycled, and used on cropland.
When we think about the global picture, solutions will need to be context- and systems-specific. Improved varieties of other crops, such as wheat and rice, will be essential. It will also be critical to develop innovations that can cut nitrogen losses—across both farming and livestock systems—in ways that ultimately improve productivity, food security, and health in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa.
At Spark, we’re helping build the nitrogen innovation field by supporting research, monitoring, field connectivity, and policy engagement to investigate and scale what works, what’s practical for producers, and what’s cost-effective.
Learn more about how Spark is charting a new path for a food system with a more efficient, effective, and circular use of nitrogen.
Nitrogen, whether from synthetic fertilizer or manure, is at the heart of agricultural productivity. But that productivity can come with costs: high and sometimes volatile input expenses for farmers and environmental and climate impacts for society.
The upside is that innovations to use nitrogen much more efficiently offer win-win opportunities: lower costs and potentially higher yields for farmers; cleaner air and water and significant climate benefits for the rest of us.
A group of leading agricultural researchers is now working to develop new varieties of corn that could dramatically improve nitrogen efficiency. Earlier this year, Iowa State University and Spark Climate Solutions co-hosted a workshop to explore the opportunities and challenges in bringing these next-generation systems to scale.
To unpack key takeaways from the workshop, we interview two experts and two Iowa producers to get their perspectives:
They discuss how nitrogen-efficient corn varieties show real promise in terms of increasing yields and reducing nitrogen loss—but whether farmers adopt them depends on their profitability and how consistently they perform under different soils, weather patterns, and management styles. Establishing what works and is easily deployable will require more research, testing, and collaboration between scientists and producers.
Maria, let’s start with the big picture. Why does reducing nitrogen loss matter?
Maria: Nitrogen is absolutely essential for crop and livestock production. But it creates two big challenges: 1) it’s a costly input for producers–especially with fertilizer prices having risen in the wake of the war with Iran, and 2) when nitrogen winds up in the air and water, it can have really negative impacts for the climate and for water quality. The goal is to develop tools that can solve both problems: reducing nitrogen losses and improving efficiencies while lowering costs for producers.
Lost nitrogen is lost productivity and lost profit. Keeping more of that nitrogen in the system where it can be used by crops or livestock can lower costs for fertilizer or livestock feed. There’s also a huge environmental opportunity. Tightening up the leaks in the system and improving nitrogen use efficiency reduces nitrous oxide emissions, a potent greenhouse gas about 275 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. It also reduces nitrate runoff, which impacts water quality.
Many of the most promising innovations—like new corn varieties that use nitrogen more efficiently—need additional research and development to bring them to market and make them cost-effective for producers. While this workshop focuses specifically on cropping system innovations, we know that in order to have the kind of transformative impact we’d like to see on the climate and water quality, we need multiple innovations to happen at the same time across crop and livestock systems. This workshop, which is the first in a series, was an exciting opportunity to bring together a diverse group of scientists, farmers, and agricultural businesses to take a hard look at what’s really needed to move forward a specific innovation in cropping systems with large potential gains.
“Lost nitrogen is lost productivity and lost profit.”
Mike, much of the workshop focused on new corn varieties being developed and modeled as part of the CERCA project (Circular Economy that Reimagines Corn Agriculture). Can you explain what CERCA is?
Mike: CERCA aims to transform nitrogen use efficiency in corn through a systems approach that integrates agronomy and plant sciences. The core idea is that modern corn has two weaknesses baked into its evolutionary history: it doesn’t grow well in cool conditions of early spring, and it devotes a large share of its nitrogen uptake to grain proteins that add little food or feed value given today's end-uses. CERCA tackles these weaknesses by pursuing three integrated approaches:
Together, these traits aim to make corn use nitrogen more like a perennial, while still performing as a high-yielding annual crop.
Kellie, from a producer perspective, what would it take for these types of new corn varieties to work for you, on your farm?
Kellie: As a farmer, there are always new corn products to look at, but CERCA would be a different perspective than weed control packages, disease tolerance, and insect protection. A product that we can plant earlier, that will use more sunlight and be more efficient with nitrogen that will translate to yield, will get my attention.
Nitrogen is a moving target every single year. The type of fertilizer, when you apply it, how much rain you get, how warm the soil is—there are a lot of ways nitrogen can slip away before the crop ever sees it. If a corn plant could hold onto more nitrogen and use it more efficiently, that could change how we plan a season.
But the bottom line is profitability. A new variety has to deliver a consistent yield and perform across different soils, weather patterns, and management styles.
“The bottom line is profitability.”
Chris, same question: what would it take for these types of new corn varieties to work for you, on your farm?
Chris: To adapt to the CERCA corn, the yield would need to be either comparable to what we currently have or proportionately less in conjunction with the amount of reduced fertilizer for the crop.
Essentially, we need to maintain or improve profitability.
There doesn’t have to be a fertilizer reduction as long as productivity is maintained, but lower input costs are always helpful to lower our overhead costs. Luckily, there aren’t really changes needed to plant earlier—the equipment would be the same, it just moves timing up some. The main changes we would need to make on our operation would be changes to how we manage our cover crops. For example, we might need to implement new kinds of cover crops or change the system to accommodate the earlier corn planting.
Mike, how does CERCA align with Chris’ and Kellie’s points about profitability, and what are the next steps for making it a reality?
Mike: It's very aligned. For farmers, the biggest potential benefits of CERCA varieties are higher yields and lower nitrogen needs. The soil produces significant amounts of nitrogen before corn is growing fast enough to take it up; similarly, day length is longest before corn reaches its peak rate of photosynthesis. Earlier planting means corn captures more soil nitrogen and sunlight, which modeling suggests could raise yields by over 10%, while cutting nitrogen losses by 20% or more. Further, recycling nitrogen within the plant—rather than removing it in the grain—means less fertilizer is needed, directly lowering input costs. For the environment and broader society, the gains come from the same mechanism: nitrogen that stays on the farm or in the plant is nitrogen that isn't leaching into groundwaters or streams, or escaping to the atmosphere. Because corn is grown at such enormous scale, even modest percentage improvements in nitrogen efficiency translate into meaningful reductions in water pollution and agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.
The next steps are discovery and testing. On discovery, we're mining genetic diversity well beyond elite corn breeding lines to find genes that already confer cold tolerance or efficient nitrogen recycling in nature. Several of these populations and crosses are already in the field. On testing, we're screening germplasm at multiple locations across the country for cold germination, seedling survival, reduced grain nitrogen, and nitrogen remobilization to roots, while using the data from these tests to build crop and soil models that let us predict which trait combinations will actually pay off for farmers and the environment before we invest years in breeding them.
“[New approaches] could raise yields by over 10%, while cutting nitrogen losses by 20% or more.”
Maria, zooming back out: corn breeding is one pathway to reduce nitrogen loss from agriculture. What are some of the other pathways being explored?
Maria: In U.S. cropping systems, there are multiple pathways—such as innovations in fertilizer application technologies and ‘precision conservation’ techniques—to reduce nitrogen losses and improve nitrogen use efficiency. Some of which we got into at the workshop and some of which we will dig into in subsequent discussions.
At Spark, we look across the whole agricultural system to find where nitrogen use could be improved. For example, developing new corn varieties could also create opportunities to reduce nitrogen losses from livestock production. Because a significant fraction of the protein in corn grain isn’t very digestible by livestock, much of the nitrogen in that protein is lost in urine and feces. Reduced-protein corn grain, coupled with a shift to more efficient livestock rations with more digestible protein sources such as urea, soybean meal, dried distillers grains, and amino acids, could reduce nitrogen losses. For the remaining nitrogen that is lost in manure, there are opportunities to improve how it is stored, processed, recycled, and used on cropland.
When we think about the global picture, solutions will need to be context- and systems-specific. Improved varieties of other crops, such as wheat and rice, will be essential. It will also be critical to develop innovations that can cut nitrogen losses—across both farming and livestock systems—in ways that ultimately improve productivity, food security, and health in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa.
At Spark, we’re helping build the nitrogen innovation field by supporting research, monitoring, field connectivity, and policy engagement to investigate and scale what works, what’s practical for producers, and what’s cost-effective.
Learn more about how Spark is charting a new path for a food system with a more efficient, effective, and circular use of nitrogen.
Nitrogen, whether from synthetic fertilizer or manure, is at the heart of agricultural productivity. But that productivity can come with costs: high and sometimes volatile input expenses for farmers and environmental and climate impacts for society.
The upside is that innovations to use nitrogen much more efficiently offer win-win opportunities: lower costs and potentially higher yields for farmers; cleaner air and water and significant climate benefits for the rest of us.
A group of leading agricultural researchers is now working to develop new varieties of corn that could dramatically improve nitrogen efficiency. Earlier this year, Iowa State University and Spark Climate Solutions co-hosted a workshop to explore the opportunities and challenges in bringing these next-generation systems to scale.
To unpack key takeaways from the workshop, we interview two experts and two Iowa producers to get their perspectives:
They discuss how nitrogen-efficient corn varieties show real promise in terms of increasing yields and reducing nitrogen loss—but whether farmers adopt them depends on their profitability and how consistently they perform under different soils, weather patterns, and management styles. Establishing what works and is easily deployable will require more research, testing, and collaboration between scientists and producers.
Maria, let’s start with the big picture. Why does reducing nitrogen loss matter?
Maria: Nitrogen is absolutely essential for crop and livestock production. But it creates two big challenges: 1) it’s a costly input for producers–especially with fertilizer prices having risen in the wake of the war with Iran, and 2) when nitrogen winds up in the air and water, it can have really negative impacts for the climate and for water quality. The goal is to develop tools that can solve both problems: reducing nitrogen losses and improving efficiencies while lowering costs for producers.
Lost nitrogen is lost productivity and lost profit. Keeping more of that nitrogen in the system where it can be used by crops or livestock can lower costs for fertilizer or livestock feed. There’s also a huge environmental opportunity. Tightening up the leaks in the system and improving nitrogen use efficiency reduces nitrous oxide emissions, a potent greenhouse gas about 275 times more powerful than carbon dioxide. It also reduces nitrate runoff, which impacts water quality.
Many of the most promising innovations—like new corn varieties that use nitrogen more efficiently—need additional research and development to bring them to market and make them cost-effective for producers. While this workshop focuses specifically on cropping system innovations, we know that in order to have the kind of transformative impact we’d like to see on the climate and water quality, we need multiple innovations to happen at the same time across crop and livestock systems. This workshop, which is the first in a series, was an exciting opportunity to bring together a diverse group of scientists, farmers, and agricultural businesses to take a hard look at what’s really needed to move forward a specific innovation in cropping systems with large potential gains.
“Lost nitrogen is lost productivity and lost profit.”
Mike, much of the workshop focused on new corn varieties being developed and modeled as part of the CERCA project (Circular Economy that Reimagines Corn Agriculture). Can you explain what CERCA is?
Mike: CERCA aims to transform nitrogen use efficiency in corn through a systems approach that integrates agronomy and plant sciences. The core idea is that modern corn has two weaknesses baked into its evolutionary history: it doesn’t grow well in cool conditions of early spring, and it devotes a large share of its nitrogen uptake to grain proteins that add little food or feed value given today's end-uses. CERCA tackles these weaknesses by pursuing three integrated approaches:
Together, these traits aim to make corn use nitrogen more like a perennial, while still performing as a high-yielding annual crop.
Kellie, from a producer perspective, what would it take for these types of new corn varieties to work for you, on your farm?
Kellie: As a farmer, there are always new corn products to look at, but CERCA would be a different perspective than weed control packages, disease tolerance, and insect protection. A product that we can plant earlier, that will use more sunlight and be more efficient with nitrogen that will translate to yield, will get my attention.
Nitrogen is a moving target every single year. The type of fertilizer, when you apply it, how much rain you get, how warm the soil is—there are a lot of ways nitrogen can slip away before the crop ever sees it. If a corn plant could hold onto more nitrogen and use it more efficiently, that could change how we plan a season.
But the bottom line is profitability. A new variety has to deliver a consistent yield and perform across different soils, weather patterns, and management styles.
“The bottom line is profitability.”
Chris, same question: what would it take for these types of new corn varieties to work for you, on your farm?
Chris: To adapt to the CERCA corn, the yield would need to be either comparable to what we currently have or proportionately less in conjunction with the amount of reduced fertilizer for the crop.
Essentially, we need to maintain or improve profitability.
There doesn’t have to be a fertilizer reduction as long as productivity is maintained, but lower input costs are always helpful to lower our overhead costs. Luckily, there aren’t really changes needed to plant earlier—the equipment would be the same, it just moves timing up some. The main changes we would need to make on our operation would be changes to how we manage our cover crops. For example, we might need to implement new kinds of cover crops or change the system to accommodate the earlier corn planting.
Mike, how does CERCA align with Chris’ and Kellie’s points about profitability, and what are the next steps for making it a reality?
Mike: It's very aligned. For farmers, the biggest potential benefits of CERCA varieties are higher yields and lower nitrogen needs. The soil produces significant amounts of nitrogen before corn is growing fast enough to take it up; similarly, day length is longest before corn reaches its peak rate of photosynthesis. Earlier planting means corn captures more soil nitrogen and sunlight, which modeling suggests could raise yields by over 10%, while cutting nitrogen losses by 20% or more. Further, recycling nitrogen within the plant—rather than removing it in the grain—means less fertilizer is needed, directly lowering input costs. For the environment and broader society, the gains come from the same mechanism: nitrogen that stays on the farm or in the plant is nitrogen that isn't leaching into groundwaters or streams, or escaping to the atmosphere. Because corn is grown at such enormous scale, even modest percentage improvements in nitrogen efficiency translate into meaningful reductions in water pollution and agricultural greenhouse gas emissions.
The next steps are discovery and testing. On discovery, we're mining genetic diversity well beyond elite corn breeding lines to find genes that already confer cold tolerance or efficient nitrogen recycling in nature. Several of these populations and crosses are already in the field. On testing, we're screening germplasm at multiple locations across the country for cold germination, seedling survival, reduced grain nitrogen, and nitrogen remobilization to roots, while using the data from these tests to build crop and soil models that let us predict which trait combinations will actually pay off for farmers and the environment before we invest years in breeding them.
“[New approaches] could raise yields by over 10%, while cutting nitrogen losses by 20% or more.”
Maria, zooming back out: corn breeding is one pathway to reduce nitrogen loss from agriculture. What are some of the other pathways being explored?
Maria: In U.S. cropping systems, there are multiple pathways—such as innovations in fertilizer application technologies and ‘precision conservation’ techniques—to reduce nitrogen losses and improve nitrogen use efficiency. Some of which we got into at the workshop and some of which we will dig into in subsequent discussions.
At Spark, we look across the whole agricultural system to find where nitrogen use could be improved. For example, developing new corn varieties could also create opportunities to reduce nitrogen losses from livestock production. Because a significant fraction of the protein in corn grain isn’t very digestible by livestock, much of the nitrogen in that protein is lost in urine and feces. Reduced-protein corn grain, coupled with a shift to more efficient livestock rations with more digestible protein sources such as urea, soybean meal, dried distillers grains, and amino acids, could reduce nitrogen losses. For the remaining nitrogen that is lost in manure, there are opportunities to improve how it is stored, processed, recycled, and used on cropland.
When we think about the global picture, solutions will need to be context- and systems-specific. Improved varieties of other crops, such as wheat and rice, will be essential. It will also be critical to develop innovations that can cut nitrogen losses—across both farming and livestock systems—in ways that ultimately improve productivity, food security, and health in regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa.
At Spark, we’re helping build the nitrogen innovation field by supporting research, monitoring, field connectivity, and policy engagement to investigate and scale what works, what’s practical for producers, and what’s cost-effective.
Learn more about how Spark is charting a new path for a food system with a more efficient, effective, and circular use of nitrogen.
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