Oral Session

Symposia

Four questions will be presented in eight rooms (i.e., the same set of questions will be presented in each of two rooms), and the participants will be assigned to eight groups that will rotate among the rooms (e.g., groups of 25 rotating among 4 rooms for the first 100 participants, and 4 more groups of 25 rotating among 4 other rooms for the second 100 participants). Group assignments will be random, but stratified by “stakeholder” group category identified at time of registration (e.g., agronomy scientists, biogeochemists, economists, sociologists, farmers, NGOs, agency representatives, fertilizer industry reps). Each group will stay in a room for 45 minutes to discuss the question posted in that room and to record thoughts on flip charts. A discussion leader/recorder will be assigned to each room and will remain in that room. Pages of flip charts will be posted on the wall, so that each group will see the written comments of previous groups that have already addressed the same question. The questions must be developed by the program committee, but might include the following straw person possibilities: 1. If you were in charge of directing federal agency research dollars (including the full range of basic and applied research) how would you prioritize them among the topics that you’ve heard about yesterday and today? 2. To the extent that farmers are not currently using several of the technical tools currently at their disposal for improving NUE, what are the most important reasons to explain this? 3. What are the most promising opportunities for using existing technologies, policy instruments, and outreach efforts to improve NUE? 4. How would you explain to your brother-in-law or sister-in-law or the aid to your Congressional representative why they should care about devoting human and financial resources to improving NUE in agriculture?