Nutri-check NET
The NUTRI-CHECK NETwork to maximise site-specific precision
in managing the nutrition of European arable crops
ADAS is pleased to have just started a new European wide project which will address crop nutrition decision making on arable farms. Europe faces huge and urgent challenges of increasing crop productivity whilst reducing use of synthetic fertilisers and nutrient losses. During the next 3 three years, this project will establish a self-sustaining, multi-actor, Thematic Network called “NUTRI-CHECK NET” that builds farm-level adoption of best field-specific nutrient management practices across Europe.
In nine countries, farmers’ Crop Nutrition Clubs will identify and share the nature of their uncertainties about crop nutrition, their challenges, and barriers to change. Decision-systems and nutrition tools (including commercial products, services, and recent research outputs) will be assembled by national experts from across Europe, including leading farmers, into a common online NUTRI-CHECK NET platform. The Crop Nutrition Clubs will then evaluate effectiveness of new protocols and tools selected from the toolbox to meet their main challenges. Thence they will co-create and adopt farm- and field-specific ‘measure-to-manage’ approaches that address their crop nutrition challenge(s). Evaluations of protocols and tools by farmers and experts will address their ease of use, trustworthiness, costs, and benefits. Initial and final evaluations will be shared across the Network to define ‘best practices’, which will be demonstrated and disseminated widely, including through liaison with other relevant Thematic Networks and EIP-AGRI. The toolbox and best practices will be held accessible and improvable in perpetua on EU-FarmBook.
Widespread adoption of ‘measure-to-manage’ or ‘check-to-change’ approaches to crop nutrition will enhance nutrient recycling and crop productivity, whilst reducing synthetic fertiliser use and nutrient losses across Europe.
Dr Sarah Kendall, ADAS Crop Physiologist, is excited about leading this collaborative project which will address a particularly urgent issue for farms across Europe. Sarah highlights that “the Yield Enhancement Network has revealed that we have a significant issue with a lack of checking of nutritional decisions and strategies. Farms are spending thousands on fertiliser products, but are rarely checking on their outcomes. We believe that through better measuring and monitoring, there is significant scope to make more accurate and appropriate nutritional decisions”.
Please check out our website https://nutri-checknet.eu/
