Public Lecture – Smart Fertilisers: Fertile ground for sustainable agriculture

The 2024 School of Chemistry Public Lecture

Modern farming practices require nitrogen fertilisers, and their use is projected to increase by 70-100% by 2050. Unfortunately, approximately 50% of nitrogen fertilisers applied to agricultural systems is lost into the environment. These losses are not only expensive for farmers and consumers but, more importantly, the environmental impact is substantial: ammonia in nitrogen fertilisers is a precursor for particulate matter (PM2.5), while nitrate leaching causes excessive surface water eutrophication and groundwater pollution. Microbial processes also play a role, converting nitrogen fertiliser into gases including nitrous oxide, which has 300 times higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide. Thus, to lower the greenhouse gas footprint of agriculture, reduction of nitrogen losses has become an important goal. This seminar will present a selection of strategies to improve nitrogen management in soils to increase agriculture’s sustainability.