Collaboration, Networking, Expertise
CANN2ONET is a collaboration network between leading experts from six universities, one college, and one polytechnic across Canada with twelve partners spanning industry, government and producer organizations.
Rationale
Due to the increasing demand for agricultural products to support the growing world population, synthetic nitrogen fertilizer is an essential input for agricultural crops, driving yield gains and subsequently supporting global food security.
Inefficiencies in the translation of nitrogen fertilizer to agricultural products results in nitrogen losses through multiple channels, including as the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O), and represents a significant economic cost to agricultural producers. Therefore, it is crucial that the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer follow principles of responsible plant nutrition by striving for improved nutrient use efficiency and reduced environmental losses. Meaningful progress towards achieving this target requires:
1
Improved quantification of agroecosystem nitrogen cycling and N2O emissions reductions from the implementation agricultural best management practices
2
Enhanced understanding of the behavioral factors impeding or driving adoption of best management practices
3
Development of suitable metrics for tracking progress towards greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets
4
Region-specific recommendations of agricultural best management practices based on emissions reduction potential that consider farm profitability and behavioral factors
Our Objectives
The network aims to:
- Develop a roadmap for emission reduction based on regional scaling-up of beneficial management practices, including economic trade-offs and evidence from behavioral experiments with farmers
- Establish a network of benchmark studies across Canada for whole-year measurements of N2O emissions and soil processes in fields with improved nitrogen management in coordination with behavioral and experimental economics studies of decision-making processes
- Develop and validate metrics to track progress towards emission reduction targets based on novel regional tower measurements, database development and improved N2O prediction models
Outcomes
Through research and training activities CANN2ONET will:
Improve our understanding of how improved management practices reduce N2O emissions for the major grain and oilseed producing regions in Canada
Establish metrics for tracking progress towards N2O emission reduction targets at field and regional scales
Develop strategies to guide partners’ decisions towards net-zero goals
Equip trainees with an understanding of farm-level realities and connect them to the agri-food network
Grains and oilseeds sector providing climate solutions and socio-economic well being
News
In this section you will find our quarterly CANN2ONET newsletters.
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