The Nutrient Use Geographic Information System (NuGIS) presents cropland nutrient balances for the conterminous United States of America from 1987. It integrates county-level data on crops and livestock from the USDA Census of Agriculture and USDA-NASS surveys with fertilizer use data from AAPFCO. Geospatial techniques are used to estimate and display balances and nutrient use efficiencies for spatial scales including counties, and 2-digit or 8-digit hydrologic units. The results of this project are shown here with interactive thematic maps.

 

The NuGIS project is supported by The Fertilizer Institute (TFI) and directed by Plant Nutrition Canada (PNC). The two primary objectives of this project are 1) to assess nutrient use efficiencies and balances in crop production, and 2) to identify weaknesses in the balance estimation processes and the datasets used for these estimations.

 

The NuGIS Project is a cooperative effort among many people. The concept was first presented by the Potash & Phosphate Institute (PPI) in 2005, at one of the first meetings of the TFI-PPI Nutrient Use Task Force and its development was overseen by the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI) from 2007. The conceptual framework, interpretation, and reviewing were a joint effort of the IPNI staff: P.E. Fixen, C.S. Snyder, T.W. Bruulsema, T.S. Murrell, H.R. Reetz, S.B. Phillips, R.L. Mikkelsen, W.M. Stewart, T.L. Jensen, and J. Peterson of University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Quentin Rund, Ryan Williams (currently at Michigan Technological University), J.D. Jones (currently at University of Wisconsin, Madison), Jonathan Norvell, and Saad Tarik of PAQ Interactive converted concepts and tactical approaches into numeric estimates and graphical representations. The project is currently coordinated by T.W. Bruulsema, Plant Nutrition Canada and managed by PAQ Interactive.

 

NuGIS is a work in progress and we welcome your comments at [email protected]