Climate Smart Precision Agriculture.

Nitrogen fertilizer is the most widely used nutrient on the planet and the most important contributor of nitrous oxide emissions from agricultural sources. With increasing pressure to produce more food globally, many economies have been increasing nitrogen consumption. The global nitrogen use efficiency estimates are in the proximity of 40%, which indicates that a lion share is lost in the biosphere every year. For farmers to practice climate smart agriculture, mandates enhancement of nitrogen use efficiency. Long-term research at Colorado State University since 1997 has developed and demonstrated site-specific management zones as an effective tool for climate smart agriculture. This research documented a reduction of up to 46% in nitrogen loadings without impairing grain yields. Coupling site-specific management zones with more recent innovations such as active proximal sensors enables the management of both, macro- and micro-variability in farm-fields and results in further improvement of nitrogen use efficiency and reductions in N loadings in the biosphere.