Skip to main content
UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences logo
Give      University of Florida
Resources
    Toggle Search Form
    GIVE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
    • HOME
    • Projects
          • Current Lab Members
          • Former Lab Members
    • Teaching
          • Faculty
          • Staff
          • Post-Doctoral Associates
          • Graduate Students
          • Affiliate/Courtesy Faculty
          • Visiting Professors, Scholars, Scientists
          • Emeritus Faculty
    • People
          • Mycorrhizal Training Course
          • Soil Biology Tests
    • Contact Us
          • Key Research Areas:
          • Carbon Dynamics and Ecosystem Services
          • Landscape Analysis and Modeling
          • Nutrient, Pesticide,and Waste Management
          • Soil, Water, and Aquifer Remediation
          • Wetlands and Aquatic Ecosystems
          • Laboratory Services
          • Research and Education Centers
          • Research Forum
          • Research Publications
          • Seminars
          • Extension Programs:
          • Extension Soil Testing Lab
          • Florida Wetlands
          • Land Judging
          • Nutrient Management
          • Water Quality and Agriculture
          • Extension Faculty
          • Extension Publications and Events
          • Short Courses and Trainings
          • Videos
          • Online Courses and Modules
          • Soil and Water Resources
          • qPCR Calendar
          • Contact Us
          • Soil and Water Sciences home page
          • University of Florida home page
          • Soil and Water Sciences Research Guide from UF Libraries
          • Florida Geological Surveys (1997 - Present)
          • Natural Resources Conservation Service
          • Environmental Protection Agency: Water
          • Environmental Protection Agency: Science and Technology
          • Soil Science Society of America

    Sustainable Nutrient Management Systems Lab

    Sustainable Nutrient Management Systems Lab

    Research

    Optimal nutrient management is critical to increase agricultural productivity and sustainability. To do so, our research seeks to better understanding nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon cycling in agroecosystems to implement more effective management that maintains soil fertility and soil health while ensuring high productivity. My research primarily focuses on how management practices (e.g., cover crops) and systems (e.g., integrated crop-livestock systems) affect nutrient cycling and soil health, using complementary approaches – laboratory incubations, greenhouse experiments, field trials, long-term research.

    • Measuring the benefits of individual management practices in Florida agroecosystems

      Many management practices can improve agricultural sustainability in Florida agroecosystems, including cover crops and organic amendments like composts and manures. As the effects of cover crops vary among systems, our research seeks to optimize their use across systems. We have established two trials on the effect of cover crops in vegetable crops at the Field and Fork gardens. We also work collaboratively on other systems (row crops, strawberry, citrus) and conduct incubation and greenhouse work using organic amendments. We are currently implementing different projects that combine amendments and cover crops, including recently funded SARE and OREI projects.

    • Quantifying how systems shifts affect nutrient cycling, soil health, and sustainability

      Although individual practices can improve sustainability, major benefits may only appear when several practices change simultaneously, providing synergies that would not occur otherwise. Our work focuses on three systems shifts: integrating perennial forages and grazing in annual cropping systems, converting “conventional” systems into certified organic agriculture, and implementing regenerative agroecosystems. We evaluate the efficiency of these systems on nutrient cycling, including nutrient budgets and environmental losses, in addition to soil health indicators. Our current work focuses on the sod-based rotation system developed for Northern Florida, whereas comparisons of organic and regenerative systems with conventional agriculture are forthcoming.

      field with cotton cows in pasture Geoprobe
    • Identifying the soil health indicators that are most applicable across Florida agroecosystems

      soil core

      Soil health has gained tremendous popularity in recent years, although it remains unclear to which extent indicators developed and calibrated for other regions of the US are applicable to Florida. Our work seeks to determine which soil health indicators (e.g. POXC, protein N) are most applicable to Florida systems, and which management practices or systems actually improve the health of these agroecosystems, including a recently-funded AFRI project led by Dr. Sarah Strauss.

       

       

    International work

    While the bulk of our research activities are focused on Florida and the Southeastern US, we also conduct international work focused on sustainable agriculture and soil health. For example, we conduct work in Laikipia County (Kenya) about soil and water conservation and soil health, in collaboration with Dr. Cheryl Palm and Dr. Pedro Sanchez.

    farm field in Kenya   farm field in Kenya 2

    Publications

    Interested in publications from our group? They can be found on Google Scholar.

    University of Florida Logo
    Contact

    Feedback
    Sustainable Nutrient Management Systems Laboratory, Department of Soil, Water, and Ecosystem Sciences
    2181 McCarty Hall A, PO Box 110290, Gainesville, FL 32611
    (352) 294-3151

    Land Grant Mission
    • Teaching
    • Research
    • Extension
    Information
    • Ask IFAS (EDIS)
    • UF/IFAS Experts
    • UF/IFAS Blogs
    • UF/IFAS Bookstore
    Policy
    • Accessible UF
    • EEO Statement
    • IFAS Web Policy
    • SSN & UF Privacy
    • Analytics (Google Privacy)

    © 2025 University of Florida, IFAS Last Modified:Tue, 17 Oct 2023 11:10:59 EDT