Collaborators: Will Brinkerhoff, SEAS (UM); Nancy Love, CEE (UM); Lesli Hoey, Taubman College (UM); Deborah Neher, University of Vermont; Jamina Shupack, Rich Earth Institute; Julie Doll, Michigan Agriculture Advancement

Funding: USDA NIFA, AFRI Foundational Program

An ecological nutrient management approach involves practices that increase agroecosystem diversity, build soil organic carbon, and reduce nitrogen losses that cause greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution. At regional scales, the development of circular economies can recycle nutrients from livestock manure and human waste into valuable fertilizers. Integrating circular nutrient economies with ecological practices on farms could optimize sustainable nutrient management, but their combined effects on ecosystem services are unknown.

In this interdisciplinary project we will advance foundational understanding of two novel systems that couple circular economies and ecological nutrient management. Our team will: (i) Determine how adaptive multi-paddock grazing of cover crop mixtures affects soil nitrogen supply, microbial communities, and soil carbon fractions that reflect potential soil carbon storage; (ii) Identify how urine-derived fertilizer impacts soil nitrogen cycling and retention, soil biodiversity, and potential for soil carbon accrual within the Kellogg Biological Station LTAR experiment; and (iii) Examine barriers to, and enablers of, widespread adoption of cover crop grazing and urine-derived fertilizer among farmers and other community members. We will accomplish these objectives through two field experiments using long-term university research trials and working farm fields; interviews and focus groups with agricultural professionals in Michigan; and a co-learning approach to share science-based knowledge through a field day, roundtable meeting, and other outreach activities.