Tools that will help reduce nitrogen pollution
Tuesday, September 13, 2011 - 15:31
in Earth & Climate
A soil scientist in Colorado is helping farmers grow crops with less nitrogen-based fertilizer. The fertilizers are a major reason why agriculture is a significant source of both greenhouse gas emissions and pollution in estuaries like the Gulf of Mexico and the Chesapeake Bay. If growers apply too little fertilizer, it reduces crop yields. But if they apply too much, the excess can be released into the atmosphere as nitrous oxide or leach into waterways as nitrate.