The University of Nebraska–Lincoln Department of Agronomy and Horticulture and Biological Systems Engineering hosted the 2022 Nitrogen Use Efficiency Workshop – Demystifying Water and Nitrogen Management with Dynamic Solutions, August 1 to 3. The workshop targeted graduate students, scientists, industry, and professionals to promote discussion about avenues to increase efficiency.
The workshop featured networking and the exchange of innovative ideas around nitrogen, which remains a huge priority among academia, industry, and stakeholders. It provided an opportunity for graduate students and scientists to get to know industry representatives and establish collaborations. Discussions highlighted the essential role of water management when it comes to N management decisions and strategies for the effective reduction of N losses to the environment critical for the state of Nebraska and beyond.
The NUE workshop started more than 20 years ago, and the 2022 event had the largest number of attendees, with 170 people participating. Laila Puntel, assistant professor of agronomy and horticulture, chaired the workshop. The event committee included Nebraska's research assistant professor Guillermo Balboa, associate professor Joe Luck, professor emeritus James Schepers, and extension educator Laura Thompson.
The event began August 1 at Nebraska Innovation Campus with a welcome message from Ron Yoder, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources senior associate vice chancellor, followed by a reception and dinner. A tour of the Greenhouse Innovation Center and the LemnaTec High-Throughput Plant Phenotyping system was coordinated by Yufeng Ge, Eberhard Professor of Agriculture at Nebraska. Santosh Pitla, associate professor, along with his graduate students, provided a robotics demonstration.
The workshop consisted of four moderated sessions with speakers from academia, government, and industry. A complete list of speakers and PDF files of their presentations is at https://agronomy.unl.edu/2022-nue-workshop-schedule.
Presentations began August 2 with Puntel and John Lindquist, associate department head and professor of agronomy and horticulture, providing welcoming remarks.
Ken Cassman, emeritus Robert B. Daugherty professor of agronomy, gave the keynote address "Journey to Pollution-Free Agriculture."
Schepers presented "The History of the NUE Workshop and Memories of Dr. Bill Raun." Raun, a late Oklahoma State University professor and Schepers co-founded the NUE workshop in 1996.
Newell Kitchen, a research soil scientist with the USDA-ARS, presented "Outcomes from Over Two Decades of NUE Workshops."
Graduate student competitions
Graduate students participated in the Bayer abstract and poster competition and the Corteva Data Hackathon competition. Participating schools included the University of Illinois Urbana – Champaign, University of Manitoba, Oklahoma State University, South Dakota State University, Purdue University, Kansas State University, University of Nebraska Omaha, and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Twenty-seven research posters were presented. Judges evaluated the abstracts, a one-minute rapid presentation, and the author's presentation to select the top three posters. Nicolas Giordano from Kansas State University placed first, Raedan Sharry from Oklahoma State University placed second, and Taylor Cross from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln placed third. These students were awarded a certificate and a cash prize.
Four teams participated in the Corteva Data Hackathon competition and began working on July 1 on data provided from nitrogen experiments. Teams were to develop a model to determine the economical optimum nitrogen rate for different fields. Creativity, accuracy, presentation, feasibility, and originality were evaluated to select the three winners. Jack's Hack Team from South Dakota State University placed first, Hackers of the Pampas Team from Kansas State University placed second, and Solver Team from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln placed third. Each team was awarded a certificate and a cash prize.
The full agenda, posters, presentations, and pictures of the 2022 NUE workshop are available at https://agronomy.unl.edu/NUE.
For more information:
University of Nebraska Lincoln
www.unl.edu