SCC-IRG Track 1: Co-Producing Community - An integrated approach to building smart and connected nutrient management communities in the US Corn Belt

美国（US）玉米带的农民生产世界上约30%的玉米和大豆，这取决于同时含有氮（N）和磷（P）的肥料的使用。然而，由于缺乏一致和可靠的信息，这些农民往往过度施肥。这种做法直接影响到农民，因为他们支付的肥料费用高于必要的费用，并对环境可持续性产生负面影响。然而，农民对养分管理挑战的看法差异很大，他们采用新的养分管理方法的意愿也是如此。与伊利诺伊州农业局，伊利诺伊州推广大学合作，并通过这些合作组织直接吸引农民，学术和社区合作伙伴的团队旨在建立一个智能和互联的“营养管理社区（NuMC）”帮助农民采用有效和可信的养分管理工具，解决养分流失引起的关键水质问题，同时减少农田养分施用量成本该项目以自愿采用养分管理做法为前提，并包括社会科学问题，以评估鼓励采用自愿“最佳做法”的原因和战略。需要使农民能够更精确地管理氮和磷，以提高农民的盈利能力，减少可能损害水资源的农田外营养损失。这项研究的目的是制定科学驱动的N和P管理建议，可以根据不同的农民的需求，重点是美国玉米带的心脏：伊利诺伊州。这项工作有三个目标：（1）确定伊利诺斯州农民如何管理氮磷管理的主要限制因素，并确定这些限制因素在农民之间的差异程度;（2）确定伊利诺伊州不同农场土壤中储存了多少N和P（包括通过使用土壤传感器和卫星观测），以及这种土壤养分资本如何促进作物生长，以模拟特定农田的肥料需求;（3）开发智能和互联的技术解决方案，使受限制的农民能够加入养分管理社区（NuMC）。这项工作将通过提供对相互关联的社会科学、地球化学和技术动态的见解，促进农业社区对农业管理的理解。拟议的方法将产生一个以社区为基础的网络基础设施，将解决一个迫切的需求：提供伊利诺伊州农民直接获得高质量和公正的信息管理nutritions.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

Farmers in the United States (US) Corn Belt produce ~30% of the world’s corn and soybean, which depends on the use of fertilizers containing both nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). However, due to a lack of consistent and reliable information, these farmers tend to over-apply fertilizer. This practice directly affects farmers, as they are paying higher fertilizer costs than necessary, and negatively impacts environmental sustainability. Yet, farmers’ perceptions of nutrient management challenges vary widely as does their willingness to adopt novel nutrient management approaches. Working collaboratively with the Illinois Farm Bureau, the University of Illinois Extension, and engaging farmers directly through the these partnering organizations, the team of academic and community partners aims to build a smart and connected "Nutrient Management Community (NuMC)" to help farmers adopt effective and trusted nutrient management tools to address critical water quality issues stemming from nutrient runoff while reducing farm nutrient application costs. The project is built on the premise of voluntary adoption of nutrient management practices and includes social science questions to assess the reasons and strategies for encouraging adoption of voluntary “best practices.”Enabling farmers to manage N and P with greater precision is needed to increase farmer profitability and decrease off-farm losses of nutrients, which can compromise water resources. The objective of this research is to develop science-driven recommendations on N and P management that can be tailored to different farmers’ needs, focusing on the heart of the US Corn Belt: Illinois. This work has three objectives: (1) identify major constraints on how Illinois farmers manage N and P management, and determine to what extent these constraints vary among farmers; (2) determine how much N and P are stocked in soils across a diversity of Illinois farm (including through the use of soil sensors and satellite observations), and how this soil nutrient capital contributes to crop growth in order to model field-specific fertilizer needs; and (3) develop smart and connected technology solutions that enable constrained farmers to join a Nutrient Management Community (NuMC). This work will advance understanding of agricultural management by and for farming communities by providing insights on interrelated social science, biogeochemistry, and technology dynamics. The proposed approach will produce a community-based cyberinfrastructure that will address an urgent need: providing Illinois farmers direct access to high-quality and unbiased information on management nutrients.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.