Reflections from the Nitrogen Workshop in Sassari

If you’re in the food or fertilizer business, you know all too well how important nitrogen is. Late May 2026, our team member Nikos had the opportunity to attend and present at the Nitrogen Workshop in Sassari organized by the University of Sassari. A multiple day conference to learn and discuss all recent findings and discoveries in the field.

Nikos Vellis presented a session on: “Accounting for nitrogen losses from nitrogen stabilized fertilizers: towards refined emission factors for N₂O in agroecosystems.”

Nikos presented Proba's joint research programme with the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) which is focused on refined N₂O emission factors for nitrogen-stabilized fertilizers. The work draws on a global database of peer-reviewed field studies to analyze how nitrification inhibitors, urease inhibitors, and their combinations reduce nitrous oxide emissions relative to conventional fertilizers.

It’s our approach towards emission factors that balances practicality and science.

Some other key presentations

Across the week there were interesting presentations by key players working with nitrogen stabilizers and GHG emission reductions. Some of the biggest takeaways:

• Concentration levels matter more than product choice: low doses of nitrification inhibitors have been found to consistently underperform.
  
  
• Inhibitor technology is still developing: newer inhibitors showed really promising results.
  
  
• Biostimulants are generating real interest as a tool for reducing nitrogen inputs. Yet, more research and data is needed.

The broader message on inhibitors: they're not a silver bullet. Timing and placement are everything, especially when organic fertilizers are in the mix.

Scientific gaps to be aware of

There’s a few recurring limitations in the field that are worth mentioning:

• Most N₂O trial data comes from the Global North. For tropical systems, such as coffee, cocoa and soy, the available data is limited.
  
  
• Single-season trials are still the norm, mostly for budget reasons, and that's simply not enough to filter out natural variability from real effects.
  
  
• Post-harvest emissions are also largely missing from the picture. Trials typically stop at harvest, which means these emissions don't make it into national inventories either. For nitrogen stabilizers, that's a gap that matters.

All in all, it was a good opportunity to touch base with key players in the academia and industry.

We’ll be back next year.