By Jamie Martin
A major agricultural research initiative is set to explore new ways for farmers to improve fertilizer efficiency while maintaining strong crop performance. The Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) has announced a $9.3 million investment through the Efficient Fertilizer Consortium to support research projects across multiple agricultural regions.
The funding will be distributed among 12 projects that focus on improving how crops use nutrients. The research aims to generate practical information that farmers can use to enhance productivity, reduce waste, and strengthen environmental stewardship.
Efficient fertilizer use remains one of the most important challenges facing modern agriculture. Growers are looking for solutions that allow them to maximize crop yields while reducing input costs and minimizing nutrient losses. Researchers believe that improved fertilizer management can help achieve these goals.
“Growers need robust, science-backed guidance for practical solutions that improve nutrient use efficiency in real-world conditions that reflect their own farming practices,” said FFAR Scientific Program Manager Dr. Sarah Lyons. “These investments support actionable research that can help farmers make better and more profitable management decisions to strengthen productivity and environmental stewardship.”
The projects supported by the consortium will evaluate several approaches, including enhanced-efficiency fertilizers, innovative nutrient technologies, and management practices such as cover crops. These strategies have the potential to improve nutrient uptake, and help crops make better use of applied fertilizers.
Scientists will study fertilizer performance under a variety of growing conditions. Research will take place across diverse soil types, climates, and cropping systems to ensure that findings are relevant to a broad range of farming operations.
The initiative emphasizes science-based decision making. By collecting detailed agronomic, environmental, and economic data, researchers hope to provide growers with practical guidance that can be applied on farms of different sizes and production systems.
An important aspect of the program is its focus on consistency and research quality. All funded projects must follow standardized field trial guidelines developed through collaboration among university researchers, government agencies, industry experts and commodity organizations. These guidelines are intended to improve confidence in research results and increase their usefulness for producers.
Industry groups are also participating in the initiative. Their involvement helps ensure that research addresses real-world production challenges and supports solutions that can be adopted by farmers.
The funded studies cover several key areas of nutrient management. Researchers will investigate fertilizer performance in corn, soybeans, cotton, and other cropping systems. Other projects will focus on biofertilizers, nutrient movement in soil, fertilizer placement methods and technologies designed to reduce nutrient runoff and leaching.
“Efficient fertilizer use is an important area of research for Cotton Incorporated because it has implications for both grower profitability and environmental stewardship,” said Dr. Jesse Daystar, vice president and chief sustainability officer at Cotton Incorporated. “Through our participation in the Efficient Fertilizer Consortium, we have supported research aligned with our strategic priorities, including improving fertilizer use efficiency and advancing science that can benefit U.S. cotton producers.”
Research teams from leading institutions across the United States, Canada and Europe are participating. The projects represent a broad collaboration involving universities, government agencies, and international research organizations.
The 2026 Efficient Fertilizer Consortium awardees include:
- Kansas State University - Dr. Dorivar Ruiz Diaz was awarded $753,348 to evaluate multiple fertilizers across the diverse cropping systems and climates of Kansas.
- Pennsylvania State University - Dr. Charles White was awarded $125,540 to test the performance of novel biofertilizers under different soil moisture conditions through rainfall simulation.
- Purdue University - Dr. Daniel Quinn was awarded $844,626 to generate location-specific data through robust agronomic and environmental measurements to refine best fertilizer management practices for Midwestern corn farmers.
- University of Arizona - Dr. Pedro Andrade Sanchez was awarded $544,861 to create a research platform to test the performance of nitrogen fertilizers in irrigated desert soil conditions.
- University of Illinois - Dr. Andrew Margenot was awarded $768,669 to measure how nitrogen fertilizers perform in tile-drained corn systems.
- University of Illinois - Dr. John Jones was awarded $843,102 to conduct field-scale evaluation of phosphorus fertilizers and their ability to prevent nutrient runoff and leach across three Midwestern states.
- University of Tennessee - Dr. Nutifafa Adotey was awarded $465,332 to evaluate how fertilizers and cover crops affect nitrogen balances in corn-soybean rotations.
- Virginia Tech - Dr. William Frame was awarded $969,120 to improve nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer efficiency in southern U.S. cropping systems using enhanced-efficiency fertilizers and cover crops.
- Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada - Dr. Craig Drury was awarded $316,635 to study the agronomic, environmental and microbial impacts of fertilizers combined with placement methods, conservation tillage and cover crops.
- Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada - Dr. Benjamin Ellert was awarded $999,984 to determine how effectively nitrogen moves from applied fertilizers to the crop.
- University of Copenhagen — Dr. Sander Bruun was awarded $1,665,571 to study how enhanced efficiency fertilizers and cover crops can work together to improve nitrogen use efficiency and enhance crop productivity in both Europe and North America.
- Volcani Institute — Dr. Ran Erel was awarded $999,969 to assess innovative nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer technologies for diverse crop rotations in irrigated dryland farming regions.
The work is expected to deliver new insights into how nutrients move through agricultural systems and how farmers can improve fertilizer efficiency under changing economic and environmental conditions. Better nutrient management can contribute to higher productivity while supporting responsible resource use.
As global demand for food continues to grow, efficient use of fertilizer remains critical to long-term agricultural success. Investments in research provide opportunities to identify new technologies and management strategies that can help farmers remain productive and competitive.
The Efficient Fertilizer Consortium's latest funding commitment demonstrates continued support for innovation in agriculture. The knowledge generated through these projects may help growers improve decision making, optimize fertilizer investments, and build more resilient farming operations for the future.
Photo Credit: istock-cactusoup
Categories: National