Guaranteed Availability Decision Support System for Profitable, Productive, and Efficient Nitrogen Management in Rainfed Crop Production (GADSS-N)

Managing Nitrogen optimally in rainfed crop production systems is a challenging problem due to the near-term and long-term uncertainty in crop Nitrogen demand. Current decision support systems solve this problem ineffectively because they suffer from compounding error, low resolution and inaccurate data inputs, and generalized process models or are consistently unavailable when most critically needed due to environmental conditions (clouds, wind, etc.). This project will develop a Guaranteed Availability Decision Support System for Nitrogen Management (GADSS-N) to better solve the challenge of Nitrogen management in rainfed crop production systems. GADSS-N will incorporate remotely sensed data and crop and soil nutrient dynamics modeling to provide both Nitrogen planning and Nitrogen plan adjustment tools. The Nitrogen plan adjustment component will include subcomponents for Nitrogen demand detection, crop Nitrogen demand quantification, application Return on Investment (ROI) evaluation, and application prioritization. To serve these subcomponents, GADSS-N will leverage model forcing alongside guaranteed availability remote-sensing data and derivative data for soil moisture and Nitrogen. Sub-seasonal to long-range weather forecasts including uncertainty measurements will be used with improved near-term weather forecasts to enhance model performance across time horizons. With these technical capabilities and model enhancements, this project will begin to deliver field-specific crop and nutrient dynamics models that exceed the performance of a generalized mechanistic model without time-demanding calibration processes. Together, these technical capabilities will enable GADSS-N as a comprehensive Nitrogen management tool that will help the American farmer improve profitability, productivity, efficiency, and environmental stewardship across millions of rainfed crop production acres.