NuGIS: a Nutrient Use Geographic Information System March 29-31, 2011 Denver, Colorado Paul Fixen Ryan Williams and Quentin Rund

IPNI vision for NuGIS widely acceptedProvide a widely accepted source of spatially defined N, P, and K data on nutrient removal by crops, fertilizer nutrient use, biological N fixation, and manure nutrients credible, transparent, up-to-date, and easily accessible greatest accuracy – By creating a credible, transparent, up-to-date, and easily accessible database and graphical interface that delivers estimates with the greatest accuracy existing data sources will allow. Expected outcomes: – Guidance in nutrient management education – Guidance in nutrient management education and marketing of services and products. more current nutrient use and removal information – Incorporation of more current nutrient use and removal information in water quality and N emission modeling efforts. – Improved integration of agronomic and environmental factors – Improved integration of agronomic and environmental factors in policy development involving plant nutrients. – Identification of weaknesses – Identification of weaknesses in supporting data and greater support for improvement.

Status of NuGIS: between “preliminary” and Version 1.0 ModelingSummit3/29/2011 XXXXXXX Critiques & stakeholder input Released July, rd Quarter, 2011

NuGIS NuGIS output and basic methodology N, P and K maps down to the county and watershed level for: – Nutrient balances and removal to use ratios – , periodic updating as data sets become available Nutrient inputs (left side): – Fertilizer applied on farms - AAPFCO sales data when available Interpolated among counties When county AAPFCO not available, state total partitioned to counties using Ag Census fertilizer and lime expenditures – Manure nutrients Livestock numbers: USDA-Ag Census Estimates of excretion and recoverability: USDA-NRCS (Kellogg, others) Nutrients in harvested crops (right site) – Crop production (3-yr average i.e. 2007= ): USDA-NASS – Currently 21 crops – Nutrient removal coefficients: IPNI County data transformed to 8-digit hucs

Estimated P removal to use ratio by watershed, 2007 (8-digit hydrologic unit) Using interpolated county level fertilizer sales

P removal to use ratio by 8-digit hydrologic unit

NuGIS Interactive Mapping

Watershed P Balance

Estimation improvements underway Inputs – Efforts with AAPFCO on more consistent fertilizer sales data reporting – Efforts with USDA (Census) on improved nutrient-specific data – Refinement of county fertilizer sales data interpolation – Systematic estimation of animal units for non-census years – Refinement of confinement and recoverability factors Removal – Collect production data on more crops where needed – Eliminate need for state adjustment factors for nearly all states – Use spatially variable nutrient removal coefficients where justified – Refinement of the conversion from counties to watersheds

Examples of output use Prediction of use impacts on soil nutrient levels Guidance in addressing water quality problems

Annual change in median soil P level for 12 Corn Belt states as related to state P balance, *NuGIS is a GIS nutrient balance model (IPNI, 2010). A balanced budget gives no net change in soil P

(3/24/2011) Comparison of total P incremental yield predicted by SPARROW to NuGIS P removal to use ratio Sparrow Total P Incremental Yield NuGIS P Removal to Use Ratio, 2007 Watersheds with high predicted P yield often have high crop P removal to use ratios. In such cases, P yield reduction will likely be difficult to achieve with P use reduction.

This is considered a preliminary publication and process … the final will incorporate stakeholder input 1) Bulletin pdf 2) On-line tool 3) Comments to: