The purpose of the Whole Farm Nutrient Balance Spreadsheet is to estimate an individual farm's nutrient balance by identifying the sources of nutrient inputs and outputs. This measure provides and "environmental yardstick" for measuring nutrient performance of a livestock or poultry farm. (Page [1])

The aim of the methodology developed in these guidelines is to introduce a harmonized international approach assessing nutrient flows and impact assessment for eutrophication and acidification for livestock supply chains taking the specificity of the various production systems involved into consideration. The methodology strives to increase understanding of nutrient use efficiency and associated environmental impacts and to facilitate the improvement of livestock systems’ environmental performance. The guidelines are a product of the Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance (LEAP) Partnership, a multi-stakeholder initiative whose goal is to improve the environmental sustainability of livestock sector through better metrics and data. Nutrient use in livestock production systems increased over the last decades due to the increased demand for livestock production. This demand is mainly driven by the increase in the population growth, population income, and urbanization. Consequently, in livestock supply chains, nutrient losses into the environment have contributed to environmental burdens such as climate change, air and water pollution, degradation of soil quality, loss of biodiversity and human health issues. Therefore, there is strong interest in measuring nutrient flows to improve the environmental performance of the livestock sector. The objectives of these guidelines are: •To develop a harmonized, science-based approach resting on a consensus among the sector’s stakeholders; •To recommend a scientific, but at the same time practical, an approach that builds on existing or developing methodologies; •To promote a harmonised approach to assess nutrient flows and impact assessment, relevant for global livestock supply chains; •To identify the principal areas where ambiguity or differing views exist concerning the methodological framework. During the development process, these guidelines were submitted for technical review and public review. The purpose is to strengthen the advice provided and ensure it meets the needs of those seeking to improve nutrient use efficiency and environmental performance through sound assessment practice. This document is not intended to remain static. It will be updated and improved as the sector evolves and more stakeholders become involved in the LEAP, and as new methodological frameworks and data become available. The guidelines developed by the LEAP Partnership gain strength because they represent a multi-actor coordinated cross-sectoral and international effort to harmonize assessment approaches. Ideally, the harmonization leads to greater understanding, transparent application and communication of metrics, and, not least, real and measurable improvement in environmental performance.

Nutrient-balance assessments are valuable tools for delineating the consequences of farming on soil fertility. Various approaches and methods for different situations have been used in the past. This bulletin presents a state-of-the-art review of nutrient balance studies. It brings out the evolution of the approaches and methods, provides for comparisons among them, features the improvements made, and highlights remaining issues. This analysis will be useful in further development of the assessment methodologies as reliable tools for devising time-scale soil fertility management interventions.

Forages: The Science of Grassland Agriculture, 7th Edition, Volume II will extensively evaluate the current knowledge and information on forage agriculture. Chapters written by leading researchers and authorities in grassland agriculture are aggregated under section themes, each one representing a major topic within grassland science and agriculture. This 7th edition will include two new additional chapters covering all aspects of forage physiology in three separate chapters, instead of one in previous editions. Chapters will be updated throughout to include new information that has developed since the last edition. This new edition of the classic reference serves as a comprehensive supplement to An Introduction to Grassland Agriculture, Volume I.

Using data on three countries in sub-Saharan Africa, this report compares macro- and microlevel approaches to determine soil nutrient balances with an innovative mesolevel approach. It highlights the added value that a mesolevel approach can provide in terms of its usefulness to mesolevel stakeholders in articulating and targeting scale-specific soil fertility enhancing measures, and its validity as an entry point for policy-makers and private-sector intervention. Contains numerous color figures and tables.