Credit System to Solve Agricultural Nitrogen Pollution Globally

To boost food production, increasing amount of nitrogen (N) has been used in agriculture and contributed to N pollution of air, water and to multiple impacts on human and ecosystems’ health. Establishment of a N credit system will decrease agricultural pollution and improve shared responsibilities among farmers, suppliers, processors, retailers, consumers and governments.

During the past decades, an increasing amount of nitrogen (N) has been used in agriculture to boost food production to feed the increasing global human population. The marked increase in N use has also contributed to severe N pollution of air and water and to multiple impacts on human and ecosystems’ health; the so-called safe planetary boundary for N has been exceeded by a factor of about two. In 2010, agriculture accounted for 85% of total anthropogenic N release to the environment. Unlike point source pollution from industries and communities, N pollution from farms is diffuse as it is resulted from large numbers of independently managed farms, and is therefore very difficult to control by technical or regulatory interventions.