Spark is excited to welcome Dr. Maria Bowman as the Program Lead for our new Agricultural Nitrogen Program. Maria will lead the development of Spark’s Agricultural Nitrogen Program, building on the foundational work of Spark Principal Scientist Eric Davidson and colleagues to develop the vision for the next generation of nitrogen management in food production systems: Nitrogen 2.0

The program aims to address an important challenge: only about 15% of nitrogen used in agricultural fertilizer ends up in the food we eat. The rest is lost as pollution—harming our air, water, ozone, and climate. Spark’s program will support the research, policy, and innovation environment needed to help transition from our current leaky system to one that is more circular, targeted, and efficient—while also ensuring the high agricultural productivity needed to meet growing human needs for healthy diets and food security. 

Maria is a scientist and leader who works across disciplines to improve agricultural productivity, environmental quality, and human well-being. Prior to joining Spark, Maria served as an Economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. At USDA, she worked across USDA agencies to improve data collection and estimates on the adoption of agricultural conservation practices with greenhouse gas impacts and conducted research on the use and economic impacts of conservation practices such as cover crops. From 2018-2021, she served as Lead Scientist for the Soil Health Partnership Program of the National Corn Growers Association where she partnered with farmers to trial soil health management practices and collect on-farm data to evaluate the economic and environmental risks and benefits. 

In addition to her time in government and industry, Maria has held research and project management roles at the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Woodwell Climate Research Center. She holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.  

‍See more of Maria’s previous research here.

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