Nitrous Oxide Facts in Response to Recent Study
University of California Berkeley Study Claims Fertilizer Is A Greenhouse Gas Contributor
A study released this week by researchers at the University of California Berkeley names fertilizer as a major greenhouse gas contributor. The study, which was reported in the journal Nature Geoscience, claims to have found fertilizer use to be the “smoking gun” responsible for a “dramatic rise in atmospheric nitrous oxide” which the authors cite as a major greenhouse gas contributing to climate change.
Here are some facts regarding nitrous oxide, compiled by The Fertilizer Institute (TFI):
- Global concentrations of nitrous oxide have remained largely constant since 1960. Click here to view an Environmental Protection Agency chart demonstrating this fact.
- Natural emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) primarily result from bacterial breakdown of nitrogen in soils and in the earth's oceans. Soils covered by natural vegetation and oceans account for more than 90 percent of the natural sources of N2O. Nitrous oxide is also produced in smaller quantities from chemical reactions in the atmosphere.
- The fertilizer industry employs a comprehensive “cradle to grave” approach to stewardship and in particular to reducing its greenhouse gas footprint. The industry, through multiple federal grant awards (with matching industry cost-share), is sponsoring research on ways to mitigate field emissions. In addition, many nitric acid facilities have voluntarily implemented abatement protocols to greatly reduce industrial N2O emissions.
- Any discussion of fertilizer use and its impact on the environment must consider the tremendous gains in fertilizer use efficiency. In the U.S., farmers are growing 87 percent more corn than they did in 1980 using four percent fewer nutrients. Through the use of 4R nutrient stewardship (use of the right fertilizer source at the right time, at the right rate, and in the right place), efficiencies in fertilizer use are also being realized in developed and developing agricultural systems around the world.
- Human-related ammonia emissions have also been shown to cause N2O emissions in the atmosphere through ammonia oxidation.
To review the entire study, click here.