The need to integrate legacy nitrogen storage dynamics and time lags into policy and practice.

Increased fluxes of reactive nitrogen (N), often associated with N fertilizer use in agriculture, have resulted in negative environmental consequences, including eutrophication, which cost billions of dollars per year globally. To address this, best management practices (BMPs) to reduce N loading to the environment have been introduced in many locations. However, improvements in water quality associated with BMP implementation have not always been realised over expected timescales.