SmartField – Accounting and mitigation of N2O emissions and N budgets of agricultural soils in Denmark

In Denmark, the agricultural sector contributes almost 1/3 of total GHG emissions, second only to the energy sector. As significant GHG emission reductions have been achieved for the energy sector, there is increasing pressure on the agricultural sector to achieve GHG reductions of about 55-65% in the coming years.

While the current GHG emission inventory for the agricultural sector at national level in Denmark is based on a combination of Tier 1 and Tier 2 methodology following the standard IPCC methodology, the vision is to report national soil N₂O emissions to the UNFCCC at either Tier 2 or Tier 3 level, the latter being the preferred level for the authorities as they plan to incentivize farmers to reduce emissions based on predictive yield and N₂O emission models.

Against this background, the Danish SmartField initiative aims to establish an innovative field-scale platform for testing and validating solutions to reduce N₂O emissions from agricultural fields. The data obtained will be used to further develop modeling tools for scaling, design and targeting of incentives to be included in regulatory frameworks to encourage adoption of knowledge and solutions by farmers and to ensure that these measures are accurately reflected in national inventories.

The core activities of SmartField are to establish: 1) a field measurement infrastructure to provide state-of-the-art benchmark datasets of N₂O fluxes and other N loss and turnover pathways (NH₃ volatilization and deposition, NOx fluxes, NO₃ leaching, harvest N, soil N stock changes) for the most prominent field management practices in Denmark, including testing of classical and novel mitigation measures, 2) a data assimilation and modeling hub with a consolidated framework to provide evidence-based models for N₂O emission quantification and to test N₂O mitigation measures at large scale in scenario studies, and 3) a science-policy-practice interface (SPPI) to exchange knowledge and information and to build a smooth interaction with agricultural decision and policy models.

This will ensure that SmartField develops and delivers an improved methodology for accounting N₂O emissions at field and farm scale, upon which policy incentives can be developed for farmers to adopt technologies and management measures with verified emission reductions.

SmartField is led by the Danish Technological Institute (DTI) in collaboration with Aarhus University (AU), the University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Colorado State University (CSU), SEGES Innovation (SEGES) and the Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries (MFAF).

 

Note, that final funding decision for SmartField is pending approval