🌱 NitroScope: Smarter Nitrogen for a Sustainable Future

The NitroScope project, initiated by Efund in 2024 and funded under HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01-04, brings together leading academic, industrial, and policy partners to tackle one of agriculture’s biggest challenges: nitrogen losses. Currently, only 30–50% of applied nitrogen fertilisers are absorbed by crops, with the rest leaking into groundwater as nitrates or escaping as nitrous oxide (N₂O) — a potent greenhouse gas almost 300 times stronger than CO₂.

NitroScope’s ambition is twofold: to advance science and to bring solutions directly to land managers. The project will deploy a network of 125 monitoring sites across 10 European pedo-climatic zones, using cutting-edge sensors, remote sensing, and modelling to quantify nitrogen fluxes with unprecedented accuracy. These data will feed into a cloud-based European N database, refining emission factors, reducing uncertainties, and supporting evidence-based policy.

To drive impact on the ground, NitroScope will test smart fertilisation techniques, crop residue management, and digital farm-management add-ons that help farmers optimise nitrogen use. By engaging the four helixes of innovation — science, society, industry, and policy — the project aims to cut nitrogen losses, improve yields, reduce water pollution, and lower greenhouse gas emissions.

With its holistic approach, NitroScope will not only deliver a more precise EU nitrogen budget but also foster the transition to a low-carbon, climate-smart agriculture that supports food security, environmental protection, and farmer profitability.

More information on the CORDIS page.