Fertiliser Use Efficiency with AI

农业面临的最大挑战之一是通过使用化肥实现高产，同时将化肥使用和生产对环境的副作用降至最低。在这个高度依赖天气的行业中，制定依赖天气的施肥策略将有助于维持作物产量，并减少温室气体(GHG)排放，以应对气候变化。这对磷和氮肥尤其重要，因为它们在温室气体排放和污染方面具有很高的环境足迹。实现这一目标的一种方法是在精准农业框架内利用新的计算技术。在2022年的前六个月，化肥价格大幅上涨，在某些情况下上涨了两倍。这些价格可能会保持波动；价格上涨在很大程度上是由于气候变化(变暖、干旱等)和地缘政治(能源/天然气供应、乌克兰战争等)造成的生产中断。此外，哈勃-博世氮肥生产工艺在最好的情况下是一个高耗能的工艺，占全球能源使用量的1.2%。尽管全球都在努力应对气候变化，但在可预见的未来，气候预计仍将保持不稳定。计算机模拟是考虑气候波动的宝贵工具，因为它们允许在不同的气候情景下测试不同的土壤/作物管理方法。化肥使用效率(FUE)的计算机模拟/模型允许快速而廉价地测试不同的情景，作为肥料应用的多方面决策过程的一部分。提高FUE的方法至少涉及FUE的4R之一：正确的化肥类型、正确的用量、正确的时间和正确的使用地点。我的ERC Consolidator Grant(COG)DIMR-646809创建了新的数学模型，现在我们可以开始解决这些问题。

One of the biggest challenges facing the agricultural industry is achieving high yields with the use of fertilisers while simultaneously minimising the environmental side effects of the fertiliser application and production. In this highly weather-reliant industry, developing weather-dependent fertilisation strategies will help maintain crop production and reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the face of climate change. This is particularly important for phosphorus and nitrogen (P&N) fertilisers, which have a high environmental footprint in terms of GHG emissions and pollution. One approach to achieving this goal is by harnessing new computational technologies within a precision agriculture framework.In the first six months of 2022, fertiliser prices have significantly increased and in some cases tripled. These prices are likely to remain volatile; the increases are largely driven by disruptions to the production due to climate change (warming, droughts etc) and geopolitics (energy/gas supply, war in Ukraine etc). In addition, the Haber-Bosch process for nitrogen fertiliser production is at best of times a highly energy consuming process responsible for 1.2% of the global energy usage. While there are worldwide efforts to deal with climate change, the climate is expected to remain volatile for the foreseeable future. Computer simulations are a valuable tool for considering climate volatility, as they allow for the testing of different soil/crop management approaches under different climate scenarios. Computer simulations/models for fertiliser use efficiency (FUE) allow for fast and cheap testing of different scenarios as part of the multifaceted decision making process for fertilisation applications. Approaches to enhance FUE address at least one of the 4R's of FUE: right type of fertiliser, right rate, right time and right place of application. My ERC Consolidator Grant (CoG) DIMR-646809 created new mathematical models, which now allow us to start tackling these issues.