Carbon, nitrogen, water, and climate change

Understanding the linkages among C, N, and water cycles provides us with the fundamental knowleedge to build agricultural system capabale of withstanding multiple stresses. Agricultural production systems depend upon the integration of the carbon ©, nitrogen (N), and water cycles in the most efficient way possible. Modern agricultural systems have optimized the utilization of C, water, N, and light: however, the increased variability in climate will disrupt the efficiency gains and increase the variability in producion among years. Soil management is a large part of the C, N, and water cycles and improving C storage in soils will beneift both water and N availability in the crop along with reducing the environmental impact from agricultural systems. We must integrate improvements in the soil management and agronomic management toward the goal of increasing crop production efficiency and decreasing the environmental impacts.