The document discusses the importance of data stewardship to support 4R nutrient stewardship. It notes that accessible data needs to be aggregated to support on-farm decisions, regional strategies, and broader reporting. Opportunities exist to integrate databases on topics like soil tests, crop nutrient responses, and nutrient balances to create an stronger evidence base. Research projects and funders are increasingly requiring open access data repositories to facilitate aggregation and meta-analysis of data.

1. Tom Bruulsema, Vice President, Americas &
Research, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Scott Murrell, Potassium Program Director,
West Lafayette, Indiana
Data stewardship perspectives from
the crop nutrition industry
Soil and Water Conservation Society
72nd International Annual Conference
Madison, Wisconsin
31 July 2017

2. The International Plant Nutrition
Institute is a not-for-profit
research and education
organization supported by
leading fertilizer manufacturers.
Its mission is to develop and
promote science for responsible
management of crop nutrition.
Research 2016:
>150 projects worldwide
45 in USA and Canada
15 in 4R Research Fund

3. Outline – data stewardship & crop nutrition
1. Decision cycles
–4R practice adaptation, research
2. Metrics
–Soil tests, nutrient balances
3. Decision support tools
–Nutrient Expert, BFDC

4. ACTION
Change in practice
Farm Level
Producers,
Crop advisers
DECISION
Accept, revise, or reject
EVALUATION of OUTCOME
Cropping System
Sustainability Performance
Recommendation of right source,
rate, time, and place (BMPs)
Regional Level
Agronomic scientists,
Agri-service
providers
DECISION SUPPORT based
on scientific principles
Policy Level – Regulatory,
Infrastructure, Product Development LOCAL SITE
FACTORS
•Climate
•Policies
•Land tenure
•Technologies
•Financing
•Prices
•Logistics
•Management
•Weather
•Soil
•Crop demand
•Potential
losses
•Ecosystem
vulnerability
4R Decision Cycle

5. Metrics for Sustainable Crop Nutrition
Enablers
(process metrics)
Actions
(adoption metrics)
Outcomes
(impact metrics)
• Extension &
professionals
• Infrastructure
• Research &
innovation
• Stakeholder
engagement
• Cropland area under
4R [Require regional
definition of 4R]
1. Farmland productivity
2. Soil health
3. Nutrient use efficiency
4. Water quality
5. Air quality
6. Greenhouse gases
7. Food & nutrition
security
8. Biodiversity
9. Macroeconomic value

6. Evidence-Based Healthcare
“The integration of best research
evidence with clinical expertise
and patient values”
Clinical
Expertise
Patient
Values
Best
Research
Evidence
EBH
Evidence-Based Agriculture
“The integration of best research
evidence with management
expertise and stakeholder
priorities?”
Management
Expertise
Stakeholder
Priorities
Best
Research
Evidence
EBA
Sackett, 2000. Referenced in Dickersin, K. and M. Mayer. 2012.
Understanding evidence-based healthcare: A foundation for action.
US Cochrane Center. Available online at
http://us.cochrane.org/understanding-evidence-based-healthcare-
foundation-action

7. Data Life
Cycle
Shared high
quality data
can be the
greatest
contribution
of research
Research
Life Cycle
Michener, W.K.
2015. PLoS
Comp. Bio. 11
(10):e1004525

8. Evidence-based
crop nutrition
• Why?
– Because science must become more CREDIBLE to support
sustainable intensification of cropping systems
• What?
– Viewing data as a primary product of science that GROWS in
value with accessibility & with time
– Seeing each new research contribution as a CONTINUATION
of the discovery process
• How?
– Share & PUBLISH quality data sets with essential meta-data &
RECOGNIZE data contributions
– TRAIN ourselves & students in data stewardship, systematic
reviews, and meta-analysis

9. A soil health metric: soil test P

10. NuGIS: Nutrient Mass Balance at Varying Scales
Speed Bumps Encountered:
• Inaccessible or non-durable data media
• Sparse meta-data for “constants”
• Temporal and spatial inconsistency
• Nondisclosure due to confidentiality concerns
• Communication between generators and users
when repurposing data
Balanced
Deficit
Nutrient Use Geographic Information System: nugis.ipni.net
P removal:use ratio for 2011
Primary data sources:
• Census of Ag
• USDA-NASS
• AAPFCO
Surplus

11. Mean Phosphorus Removal for Corn Grain
ranges from 0.23 to 0.44 pounds P2O5 per bushel
0.29
(74)
0.27
(1624)
0.28
(6944)
0.37
(894)
0.30
(3121)
0.28
(2116)
0.33 (2941)
0.27
(1743)0.29
(2781)
0.32
(1377)
0.30
(24)
0.32 (33)
0.31 (21)
0.30 (429)
0.29
(109)
0.23
(28)
0.29
(589)
0.29
(635)
0.27 (171)
0.30 (8)
0.32
(378)
0.30 (751)
0.31
(54)
0.27 (150)
0.44 (91)
0.27 (15) 0.28 (2)
Nathan, M. 2013. International Symposium on Soil and Plant Analysis.
0.34
(16)
0.28
(3)
Average
0.30 ± 0.05
N ~ 27,000

12. Evidence-based Soil Test Calibration in Australia
• Searchable data repository
• 6,000 trial treatment series
• N,P,K,S for multiple crops
• Nation wide, shared work &
funding
“Better Fertilizer Decisions for Cropping Systems (BFDC)”

13. Wheat response to P fertilizer in Australia
www.bfdc.com.au
All sites
Vertosols
“Better Fertilizer Decisions for Cropping Systems (BFDC)”
Data sharing issues were overcome … Benefits were huge

14. Evidence-based Nutrient Management in Asia
Xu, X. et al. 2013. Field Crops Res. 150:115-125
Driven by aggregated data but delivered with site-specific information
“Nutrient Expert”

15. • Established by the North American fertilizer industry to
develop data on impacts of 4R Nutrient Stewardship
• $7 million over 5 years 2014-2019
• First 5 projects funded were meta-analyses
• All data to be submitted to an open access data
repository. Purdue University is facilitating this
process.
• Meta-analysis would be easier and more productive
if ancillary data were systematically curated and
stored in a repository (Eagle et al., 2017).
Funding sources as a driver for
evidence-based approaches
Eagle et al. 24 July 2017. Agron J. “first look.”

16. Summary
• 4R nutrient stewardship needs data stewardship.
• The evidence base—accessible data—needs to support on-
farm decisions, regional strategies, and broader scale
reporting to stakeholders.
• Opportunities exist to aggregate and integrate databases on
soil test levels, crop nutrient responses, and crop nutrient
balances… and more.