Assessment of nitrogen losses to the environment with a Nitrogen Trading Tool (NTT)

Nitrogen (N) losses from agriculture often contribute to reduced air, groundwater, and surface water quality. The minimization of these N losses is desirable from an environmental standpoint, and a recent interest in discounted reductions of agricultural N losses that might apply to a project downstream from an agricultural area has resulted in the concept of N credits and associated N trading. To help quantify management-induced reductions in N losses at the farm field level (essential components of a Nitrogen Trading Tool), we defined a Nitrogen Trading Tool difference in reactive N losses (NTT-DNLreac) as the comparison between a baseline and new management scenarios. We used a newly released Windows XP version of the Nitrogen Losses and Environmental Assessment Package (NLEAP) simulation model with Geographic Information System (GIS) capabilities (NLEAP-GIS) to assess no-till systems from a humid North Atlantic US site, manure management from a Midwestern US site, and irrigated cropland from an arid Western US site. The new NTT-DNLreac can be used to identify the best scenario that shows the greatest potential to maximize field-level savings in reactive N for environmental conservation and potential N credits to trade. A positive NTT-DNLreac means that the new N management practice increases the savings in reactive N with potential to trade these savings as N credits. A negative number means that there is no savings in reactive N and no N available to trade. The new NLEAP-GIS can be used to quickly identify the best scenario that shows the greatest potential to maximize field-level savings in reactive N for environmental conservation and earning N credits for trade.