Dr Ike Onwuka

Food security is national security. By treating soil as a strategic asset rather than just a medium for growth, we can build a more resilient and sovereign future.

#SoilScience #CriticalMinerals #ResourceSovereignty #Phosphorus #FoodSecurity #Sustainability #Biogeochemistry #MachineLearning

3. Predictive Power for Policy: By identifying climate, soil texture, pH, and geographic location as the top predictors of P distribution, we can now more accurately manage this critical resource at a national scale.

2. Visualizing the "Legacy" Reservoir: Our maps reveal high phosphorus accumulation in surface soils within major agricultural corridors, which is a testament to how decades of land management have created vital strategic reservoirs.

Key takeaways from the study:

1. Mapping our Strategic Reserves: We’ve created high-resolution maps of soil total phosphorus across the conterminous US, providing a "geochemical census" of this resource in both surface and deep soil layers.

In this @steps-stc.bsky.social funded research, we address the "wicked problem" of phosphorus sustainability by mapping our nation's terrestrial reserves. If we want to secure our food systems, we must start by understanding the phosphorus already in our soils.

With the U.S. government recently adding phosphate to the Critical Minerals List, the conversation around phosphorus (P) has shifted. It is no longer just an agricultural input; it is a strategic resource essential for resource sovereignty.

High‐Resolution Soil Total Phosphorus Mapping for the Conterminous USA Using Machine Learning Random forest outperforms inverse distance weighting in predicting soil total phosphorus concentrations across the conterminous USA Random forest models identify spatial coordinates, soil propert...

Is the soil beneath our feet the next frontier of national security?

I’m thrilled to share our latest research published in JGR Biogeosciences: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

It was also great to see STEPS well represented in our session.

Lastly, it was great to reconnect with colleagues from my alma mater in the vibrant city of New Orleans.

hashtag#SoilScience hashtag#DataScience hashtag#Phosphorus hashtag#Sustainability

I’m thankful to my team and the @steps-stc.bsky.social for their continued support. I’m especially grateful to my co-advisor Natalie Nelson for the encouragement to attend and present, and to my session conveners Xin Zhang and Dennis Swaney for creating a welcoming space at such a large conference.

which helps advance phosphorus sustainability, agricultural productivity, and water quality protection. It also provides much-needed data inputs for soil and water quality models.
Furthermore, my work highlights the power of convergence, bringing together universities, labs and stakeholders.

My presentation focused on building a harmonized, national STP dataset across the conterminous United States by integrating and standardizing data from diverse sources. This work supports better estimates of soil phosphorus availability, fertilizer needs, and phosphorus losses,

It was my first time attending AGU, and I presented my research on soil test phosphorus (STP) at #AGU25.

#agu25 #soilscience #datascience #phosphorus #sustainability | Ikechukwu Onwuka, Ph.D. It was my first time attending AGU, and I presented my research on soil test phosphorus (STP) at #AGU25. My presentation focused on building a harmonized, national STP dataset across the conterminous...

www.linkedin.com/posts/ikechu...

#SoilScience #GeospatialDataScience #PhosphorusSustainability #MachineLearning #SoilMapping #EnvironmentalScience #ResearchToAction

I also presented my research with the @steps-stc.bsky.social: "High-Resolution Soil Total Phosphorus Mapping for the Conterminous US Using Machine Learning"—a project that blends geospatial data, machine learning, and collaboration to support sustainable phosphorus management.

It was energizing to meet collaborators in person—many of whom are supporting or contributing to my high-resolution phosphorus mapping efforts.

What I appreciate most about smaller, focused events like ISSPA is the space they create for real connection. You're not overwhelmed by crowds—you can have meaningful conversations, share ideas, and build collaborations that last.

Last week, I attend edthe hashtag#ISSPA2025 Symposium—an intimate and targeted gathering that brought together plant and soil science researchers and practitioners from around the world including Japan, Morocco, Australia, New Zealand, and across Europe.