The role of citizen science in addressing grand challenges in food and agriculture research

The power of citizen science to contribute to both science and society is gaining increased recognition, particularly in physics and biology. Although there is a long history of public engagement in agriculture and food science, the term ‘citizen science’ has rarely been applied to these efforts. Similarly, in the emerging field of citizen science, most new citizen science projects do not focus on food or agriculture. Here, we convened thought leaders from a broad range of fields related to citizen science, agriculture, and food science to highlight key opportunities for bridging these overlapping yet disconnected communities/fields and identify ways to leverage their respective strengths. Specifically, we show that (i) citizen science projects are addressing many grand challenges facing our food systems, as outlined by the United States National Institute of Food and Agriculture, as well as broader Sustainable Development Goals set by the United Nations Development Programme, (ii) there exist emerging opportunities and unique challenges for citizen science in agriculture/food research, and (iii) the greatest opportunities for the development of citizen science projects in agriculture and food science will be gained by using the existing infrastructure and tools of Extension programmes and through the engagement of urban communities. Further, we argue there is no better time to foster greater collaboration between these fields given the trend of shrinking Extension programmes, the increasing need to apply innovative solutions to address rising demands on agricultural systems, and the exponential growth of the field of citizen science.This working group was partially funded from the NCSU Plant Sciences Initiative, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences ‘Big Ideas’ grant, National Science Foundation grant to R.R.D. (NSF no. 1319293), and a United States Department of Food and Agriculture-National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant to S.F.R., USDA-NIFA Post Doctoral Fellowships grant no. 2017-67012-26999.http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.orghj2018Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI

Emissão de óxidos de nitrogênio associada à aplicação de uréia sob plantio convencional e direto Nitrogen oxides emission related to urea broadcasting fertilization under conventional and no-tillage systems

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar emissões de NO e N2O até cinco dias após a primeira fertilização de cobertura com uréia em milho, em Latossolo Vermelho argiloso distrófico, sob plantio convencional e direto. A adubação de cobertura foi de 60 kg ha-1 de N. O experimento foi conduzido na Embrapa Cerrados, Planaltina, DF, com delineamento de blocos ao acaso, com três repetições, sendo o terceiro cultivo de milho, em rotação com soja. Os fluxos de NO e N2O foram medidos em câmaras de PVC instaladas em cada parcela. Houve emissão alta de NO imediatamente após (5,4 ng N cm-2 h-1) e no terceiro dia (4,8 ng N cm-2 h-1) após aplicação de uréia e irrigação. Um dia após fertilização, a emissão de NO reduziu-se a 1,9 ng N cm-2 h-1, e cinco dias depois, alcançou 1,2 ng N cm-2 h-1. Os fluxos de N2O ficaram abaixo do limite de detecção de 0,6 ng N cm-2 h-1. Não houve diferença significativa entre os plantios convencional e direto quanto à emissão dos óxidos de nitrogênio.<br>The objective of this work was to evaluate the NO and N2O emissions up to five days after the first nitrogen broadcasting fertilization with urea in a cornfield, in a Red Latosol, under conventional and no-tillage systems. The level of nitrogen broadcasting fertilization was of 60 kg ha-1. The experiment was conducted at Embrapa Cerrados, Planaltina, DF, Brazil, in a randomized block design, with three replications, beeing the third corn crop in rotation with soybean. NO and N2O fluxes were measured using PVC chambers installed in each plot. Higher NO fluxes were found immediately after (5.4 ng N cm-2 h-1) and three days (4.8 ng N cm-2 h-1) after N fertilization and irrigation. In the first day after fertilization, the NO emission decreased significantly to 1.9 ng N cm-2 h-1, and after five days, reached 1.2 ng N cm-2 h-1. N2O fluxes values were below the detection limit of 0.6 ng N cm-2 h-1. No significant differences in nitrogen oxides fluxes were found between plots under conventional and no-tillage systems