The Western Region Nutrient Management and Water Quality Committee (WERA-103) is fosters research, education, and outreach on nutrient management to improve crop efficiency, soil health, and water quality in the Western U.S. It is comprised of those working at land grant universities, USDA-ARS, commercial laboratories, and companies in the Western U.S.
This collection of articles address the environmental and water quality impacts of legacy phosphorus and how it impacts crop production, soil tests, and long-term sustainability of fertilizer practices across U.S. cropland. Particular emphasis is given to the 4R nutrient stewardship framework as well as regional conservation strategies, hydrological variability, and collaborative, adaptive management.
Society has made (and will be making) significant demands on agriculture in the not-to-distant future. Meeting future sustainability goals and environmental regulations while simultaneously continuing to meet requirements for food, feed, fuel, and fiber requires a firm understanding of how “we” have collectively arrived at our current status as it relates to our fertility principles and beliefs as well as the processes that address them. We have advanced far from the earliest thoughts on rudimentary plant nutrition to a sophisticated science of prescription crop nutrition.
