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:

Crop production

Nitrogen benchmarking for cropping systems

Nature Food volume 6, pages 645–646 (2025)Cite this article

Subjects

A data-driven conceptual framework that benchmarks sustainable nitrogen management for wheat production in China and shows strong potential for fostering locally adapted strategies that balance agricultural productivity with environmental sustainability.

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

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

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

Fig. 1: Regional nitrogen benchmarks of nitrogen yield and nitrogen surplus, identified by Mi et al. from current business-as-usual practices in the studied regions of China, and their evolution after applying three scenarios.

References

  1. Foreign Agricultural Service. Grain: World Markets and Trade (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2023); https://go.nature.com/4ks964W

  2. EU Nitrogen Expert Panel. Nitrogen Use Efficiency (NUE) - Guidance Document for Assessing NUE at Farm Level (Wageningen University, 2016); https://go.nature.com/3TtCxIV

  3. Mi, X. et al. Nat. Food https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01197-w (2025).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Van Grinsven, H. J. M. et al. Environ. Sci. Technol. 47, 3571–3579 (2013).

    Article  ADS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Sutton, M. A. et al. Our Nutrient World: The Challenge to Produce More Food & Energy with Less Pollution (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, 2013); https://go.nature.com/4l3FJXQ

  6. Sutton, M. A., Howard, C. M., Mason, K. E., Brownlie, W. J. & Cordovil, C. M. d. S. Nitrogen Opportunities for Agriculture, Food & Environment. UNECE Guidance Document on Integrated Sustainable Nitrogen Management (UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, 2022); https://go.nature.com/45zTNTW

  7. Ludemann, C. I. et al. Earth Syst. Sci. Data 16, 525–541 (2024).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Quemada, M. & Lassaletta, L. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 44, 44 (2024).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Kang, J. et al. Nat. Food 4, 751–761 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Gu, B. et al. Nature 613, 77–84 (2023).

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Edinburgh, UK

    Sergiy Medinets & Mark A. Sutton

  2. Regional Centre for Integrated Environmental Monitoring, Odesa National I. I. Mechnikov University, Odesa, Ukraine

    Sergiy Medinets

Authors
  1. Sergiy Medinets
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mark A. Sutton
    View author publications

    Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sergiy Medinets.

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

Medinets, S., Sutton, M.A. Nitrogen benchmarking for cropping systems. Nat Food 6, 645–646 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01201-3

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Version of record:

  • Issue date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01201-3

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing Anthropocene

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Anthropocene newsletter — what matters in anthropocene research, free to your inbox weekly.

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