Presentation of the workshop

The Nitrogen workshop is a biennial international scientific meeting aimed at exchanging ideas and views on the state of the art of research on N use in agriculture. Different points of view are considered (agronomists, soil scientists, microbiologists, crop physiologists, modellers, etc.).

Previous editions of Nitrogen workshop were held since 1982 in various European countries (United Kingdom, Belgium, Germay, Denmark, France, The Netherlands and Spain). For the first time, in 2009 the Nitrogen workshop will be held in Italy.

We will appreciate contributions from a large range of experts, with a particular emphasis on the integration of different scales and disciplines.

Scope

The Nitrogen Workshop is aimed at exchanging ideas and views on the state of the art of research on N use in agriculture.

The 16th Nitrogen Workshop will be focused on moving from one scale to another:

nitrogen cycle scales, that is how biochemical processes affect the agroecosystem response;
study scales, that is how researchers are addressing the upscaling-downscaling issue;
management scales, that is how effective measures can be applied to control nitrogen release to the environment;
social and economical scales, that is outcomes of sustainability or mitigation measures.

Target

Target groups of the Nitrogen Workshop are:

researchers;
technicians or whoever needs a practical recommendation for an effective and efficient use of technology related to the agricultural use of nitrogen, or mitigation of nitrogen impact;
policy makers, who need assessment tools and operational tools that can be applied to the territory;
whoever is interested in nitrogen-related issues.

Setup

Participants will be welcomed on Sunday, June 28^th 2009, in the impressive Mole Antonelliana, symbol monument of the city of Turin. The Congress will be organized in a common plenary session that will take place on Monday 29^th and the morning of Tuesday 30^th. Field trips aimed at exploring the local agricultural world and issues will be held on Tuesday afternoon (you will be asked to choose among some alternative destinations). Posters will be analysed in specific sessions on Monday and Tuesday, and some will be selected for a brief presentation during parallel working groups on Wednesday morning. Click here to read the programme of the workshop.

Milestones

A book of proceedings (2-page short communications) will be given to participants. Selected papers will be proposed for publication in a special issue of a refereed journal.

Links to web pages of previous editions of the Nitrogen workshop

12^th Nitrogen workshop, 2003, Devon, United Kingdom, "Controlling N Flows and Losses".

14^th Nitrogen workshop, 2005, Maastricht, The Netherlands, "N management in agrosystems in relation to the Water Framework Directive".

15^th Nitrogen workshop, 2007, Lleida, Spain, "Towards a better efficiency in N use": http://www.nitrogen15workshop.udl.es.

... just for fun

Links to some poems about nitrogen:

Last modified by Luca Bechini, 14 May 2009.

http://www.nitrogenworkshop2009.org