Duration: 10/01/2025 to 09/30/2030

Administrative Advisor(s):

NIFA Reps:

Non-Technical Summary

WERA-103 focuses on improving nutrient management practices in agriculture across the Western U.S. to enhance crop productivity while protecting the environment. The project brings together researchers, industry professionals, and government agencies to collaborate on best practices, new technologies, and educational outreach. It aims to improve crop nutrient recommendations, develop sustainable agricultural practices, and create educational materials for farmers and agricultural consultants. Ultimately, the project seeks to improve nutrient use efficiency, enhance soil health, and safeguard water quality while supporting the region's agricultural needs.

Statement of Issues and Justification

Effective nutrient management is crucial for sustainable agriculture in the Western United States, where diverse cropping systems, ranging from high-value specialty crops to extensive cereal and forage production, operate under water-limited and semi-arid conditions. Improper fertilizer use in this region threatens both agricultural productivity and environmental health. Over-application or misapplication of nutrients contributes to nutrient losses such as nitrogen leaching, phosphorus runoff (Sabo et al., 2021), and emissions of nitrous oxide (N₂O). All of these and other losses and inefficiencies exacerbate concerns about water and air quality, and reduce producers’ return to fertilizer investments.

The Western region faces intensifying challenges including variable soils, rising fertilizer costs, water scarcity (Marston et al., 2020), and increasing regulatory and societal pressure to reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture. Simultaneously, producers are under pressure to increase productivity without expanding into non-agricultural lands. These challenges underscore the need for adaptive, region-specific, and science-based nutrient management strategies (Udvardi et al., 2021) that optimize input efficiency and support long-term agricultural viability.

Agriculture contributes to global GHG emissions (Zhang et al., 2022; FAO, 2023), with a substantial share stemming from nitrogen fertilizer production and use. In the Western U.S., where agriculture must contend with extreme weather events and limited water supplies, optimizing nutrient use efficiency (NUE) is essential to mitigating GHG emissions, protecting soil and water resources, and improving farm profitability. Integration of best management practices (BMPs) that include precision nutrient application, enhanced-efficiency fertilizers, organic nutrient sources (e.g., manure, compost), and digital decision-support tools are necessary to meet both productivity and environmental goals.

To address these pressing challenges, a coordinated, multi-institutional effort such as WERA-103 is essential. WERA-103 serves as a proven platform for collaboration among federal agencies, land-grant universities, private industry, and non-profit organizations. This regional network fosters the development, validation, and dissemination of BMPs that improve nutrient-use efficiency and reduce negative environmental and economic impacts. Shared learning across state lines enhances the quality, consistency, and relevance of nutrient recommendations, enabling effective problem-solving and reducing duplication of research and outreach efforts.

Furthermore, WERA-103 facilitates the development of educational programs and outreach materials to support the application of sound nutrient management principles. These include soil-plant-water relationships, soil testing methodologies, nutrient cycling in intensively managed systems, and strategies for utilizing organic nutrient sources effectively. Extension of these tools to agricultural advisors, analytical laboratories, consultants, and producers ensures informed decision-making and accelerates adoption of improved practices.

As weather variability intensifies and demand for food, fiber, and bioenergy increases, the need for resilient nutrient management strategies becomes more urgent. Through collaborative research, education, and outreach, WERA-103 continues to provide a strong foundation for building sustainable agricultural systems that protect natural resources while enhancing productivity and economic stability across the Western U.S.

Objectives

Procedures and Activities

Procedures for Objective 1, Advance regionally adapted nutrient recommendations:

1. Facilitate multi-state research-extension-education collaborative projects to improve crop nutrient recommendations – including a summary and publication of all current fertilizer recommendations for major crops to identify needs and opportunities for improvement;
2. Develop/refine multi-state nutrient use standards for western crop production systems;
3. Contribute fertilizer rate trial and related data to national databases such as the FRST (fertilizer recommendation support tool);
4. Collaborate with and serve on FRST committees to advance regional and national efforts to improve nutrient recommendations;
5. Integrate emerging soil-health assessment techniques into improved crop nutrient recommendations;
6. Evaluate and support adoption of new nutrient analytical techniques and interpretive.

 

Procedures for Objective 2, Promote sustainable production systems:

1. Facilitate multi-state research-extension-education collaborative projects to develop and/or evaluate productivity, nutrient/water-use efficiency, sustainability, and economic feasibility of conservation management systems such as, but not limited to, perennial rotation phases, cover crops, organic amendments, and livestock integration;
2. Partner with the USDA-NRCS and other organizations (state departments of agriculture and water quality) to update nutrient management and crop management standards, practices, and incentive programs.
3. Evaluate and/or develop standards for use of amendments, biostimulants, nutrient delivery systems, enhanced-efficiency fertilizers, and other novel products/approaches for improving nutrient-use efficiency;
4. Evaluate and revise soil/plant/water/amendment analysis guidelines to reflect changing management practices;
5. Develop and/or participate in efforts to develop and refine standardized soil health assessment methods, particularly for arid and semiarid regions in collaboration with other multi-state groups [e.g., WERA-1196, Western Cover Crop Council, Rocky Mountain Soil Health Collaborative, Desert Agriculture Soil Health Initiative (DASHI)] and regional or national programs (e.g., Soil Health Institute, NAPT, etc.).

 

Procedures for Objective 3, Expand education and Extension programs materials:

1. Organize, expand, and conduct the biennial Western Nutrient Management Conference to provide science-based information to consultants, educators, industry representatives, students, and Conference attendance and first-time attendees will be key indicators of success, and we will elevate efforts to advertise and increase the impact of this important conference. Further, we will implement meeting evaluations to assess how to improve future conferences;
2. Contribute to national and regional technical publications to represent outputs and efforts of WERA-103 members. We will continue to provide information primarily to agricultural consultants and educators in regular (i.e., quarterly) through the American Society of Agronomy Crops & Soils Magazine which reaches 1,000’s of certified crop advisors (CCA) and professional soil scientists, along with 1,000’s of crop and soil researchers. explore and take other opportunities to disseminate WERA-103 research through industry outlets (podcasts, news report, research highlights) such as The Fertilizer Institute, At least one additional periodical outlet will be targeted during this project period;
3. Produce multi-media presentations on soil fertility and nutrient management for use in CCA training, Extension programming, K-12, and university and college courses;
4. Develop collaborative efforts to write/revise/publish regionally relevant extension publications and materials that extend the latest science-based practices for nutrient management in western crop production systems, targeting producers, consultants, and extension educators.

Expected Outcomes and Impacts

Projected Participation

View Appendix E: Participation

Educational Plan

The educational component of WERA-103 will focus on delivery of the latest nutrient management findings and other technology to educators, industry agronomists, government agencies, and other interested parties. This will be done through multi-state publications, regional conferences, web-based publications, and other web-based outlets such as educational videos, short courses and podcasts.

The past efforts by this group include holding the biennial Western Nutrient Management Conference (WNMC), which involves university, government and industry personnel and students sharing their findings, addressing and responding to emerging issues and interacting with a large group to expand the bidirectional understanding of regional needs. The WNMC also fosters additional cooperative research and extension efforts. We will continue to expand the reach and impact of WNMC to include different types of stakeholders and a growing number of participants.

Coordination with fertilizer industry partners, national initiatives such as FRST, and laboratory proficiency testing programs, including the North American Proficiency Testing (NAPT) Program and Agricultural Laboratory Proficiency Program, and generating associated publications will educate the agricultural industry about continued advances in soil and plant analysis that are calibrated and scientifically rigorous, to support soil and plant analysis programs across the region.

Publications developed by WERA-103 members support university and industry agronomists and educators in ongoing educational efforts in nutrient management and sustainable agriculture. Enhanced knowledge of new technologies and better practices leads to better adoption of best management practices, better nutrient management outcomes, and improved water and air quality. Coordinated efforts of WERA-103 members producing these publications helps to focus research efforts where additional data are needed. The multi-state working-group forum facilitated by the WERA-103 project ensures the regional nature, scientific rigor, and combined industry and extension promotion of sound, science-based practices throughout the region.

Organization/Governance

The Committee Chair provides leadership for the committee and is responsible for coordination with the Western Directors, and for planning the annual meeting. The Committee Chair Elect provides support to the Chair and becomes the Chair the following year. The Secretary is responsible for submitting minutes and state reports from the annual meeting and becomes Chair Elect. Officers serve for one year.

An individual is selected from the committee to be the Coordinator of the Western Nutrient Management Conference. This person works closely with the Committee leadership in program planning. Other subcommittees are established as needed to meet the planned programming of WERA-103.

Committee membership is open to qualified nutrient management professionals from a broad range of entities. The committee is currently comprised of representatives of Western region land-grant and other universities, the USDA Agricultural Research Service, fertilizer producers, agricultural testing companies, and The Fertilizer Institute. The interdisciplinary nature of the committee is unique and vital to the group’s function.

Literature Cited

Literature Cited

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). (2023). Nitrogen use efficiency must be improved to reduce harm to human health and the environment. https://www.fao.org/newsroom/detail/FAO-nitrogen-use-efficiency-report/en

Marston, L. T., Lamsal, G., Ancona, Z. H., Caldwell, P. V., Richter, B. D., Ruddell, B. L., Rushforth, R. R., & Davis, K. F. (2020). Reducing water scarcity by improving water productivity in the United States. Environmental Research Letters, 15(9), 094033.

Sabo, R. D., Clark, C. M., Gibbs, D. A., Metson, G. S., Todd, M. J., Leduc, S. D., Greiner, D., Fry, M. M., Polinsky, R., Yang, Q., Tian, H., & Compton, J. E. (2021). Phosphorus inventory for the conterminous United States (2002–2012). Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 126(4), e2020JG005684. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JG005684

Udvardi, M., Below, F. E., Castellano, M. J., Eagle, A. J., Giller, K. E., Ladha, J. K., Liu, X., Maaz, T. M. C., Nova-Franco, B., Raghuram, N., Robertson, G. P., Roy, S., Saha, M., Schmidt, S., Tegeder, M., York, L. M., & Peters, J. W. (2021). A research road map for responsible use of agricultural nitrogen. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 5, 660155. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2021.660155

Zhang, X., Davidson, E. A., Mauzerall, D. L., et al. (2022). Greenhouse gas emissions from global production and use of nitrogen synthetic fertilizers. Scientific Reports, 12, 18773. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18773-w

Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

 AZ, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, MN, NM, OR, TN, UT, WA, WY

Attachments

Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

AZ, MO, NE, WA

Non Land Grant Participating States/Institutions