A Food Supply Chain View of Crop Nutrition.

Companies and organizations throughout the agricultural supply chain have been establishing goals and implementing programs to improve the environmental sustainability of their products. Crop nutrition is a key consideration in these sustainability goals and programs. Poor management or excess application of nitrogen (N) can contribute to adverse environmental outcomes that threaten the sustainability of agricultural production, particularly in sensitive regions and watersheds.  An important component of improving sustainability across the agricultural supply chain is reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and N runoff in surface water through better management of fertilizer at the field level.  Tracking of these environmental outcomes is increasingly important and requires sustained reporting of farm activities using quantitative tools. One tool applied over approximately 1.5 million acres of commodity cropland in the United States is the Fieldprint Calculator (FPC). The FPC is the primary tool used in supply chain sustainability projects by members of the sustainable agriculture alliance Field to Market. We will provide several examples of how supply chain partnerships – linkages of food and retail companies, agribusiness, grower organizations and conservation groups – have used the FPC to measure GHG emissions and water quality. The results from these projects are being used to communicate with producers about the opportunities for and benefits of improvement in the sustainability of their operations. In addition, revisions to the components of the FPC that quantify GHG emissions and water quality are underway that will improve their ability to account for the full suite of N management practices and align with the ‘4R’ nutrient stewardship approach and other sustainability practices. These supply chain programs are committed to improving the measurement of GHG and water quality outcomes, and ultimately working with all sectors to communicate to consumers about improved environmental outcomes through better nutrient management.