Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

Nitrogen challenges in global livestock systems

One-third of human-induced reactive nitrogen emissions can be traced to livestock supply chains. Highly variable nitrogen use efficiencies along these chains uncover opportunities for more sustainable nitrogen management.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Livestock reactive nitrogen emissions in 2010.

References

  1. Sutton, M. A. et al. Our Nutrient World: The Challenge to Produce More Food and Energy with Less Pollution. Global Overview of Nutrient Management (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Edinburgh on behalf of the Global Partnership on Nutrient Management and the International Nitrogen Initiative, 2013).

  2. Uwizeye, A. et al. Nat. Food https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-0113-y (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Clark, M. & Tilman, D. Environ. Res. Lett. 12, 064016 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Lassaletta, L. et al. Sci. Total Environ. 665, 739–751 (2019).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Chadwick, D. R. et al. Front. Agr. Sci. Eng. 7, 45–55 (2020).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. Zhang, C. et al. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 144, 65–73 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Spiegal, S. et al. Agric. Syst. 182, 102813 (2020).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Mueller, N. D. et al. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 31, 245–257 (2017).

    CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. van Grinsven, H. J. M. et al. Reg. Environ. Change 18, 2403–2415 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Bai, Z. et al. Nat. Sustain. 2, 888 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nathaniel D. Mueller.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mueller, N.D., Lassaletta, L. Nitrogen challenges in global livestock systems. Nat Food 1, 400–401 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-0117-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-0117-7

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing