Dr. Andrew VanderZaag

Research Scientist

Scientist based at the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa, Ontario. Lead and collaborate on research projects related to:

Methane emissions, Biogas
Nitrous oxide emissions
Water use efficiency
Decentralized wastewater treatment
Agricultural meteorology
Agricultural sustainability

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Ottawa

Current research and/or projects

Understanding methane emissions from liquid manure storage across Canada (AAFC internal funds)
Water use efficiency in dairy farming (AAFC & Dairy Farmers of Canada)
Environmental aspects of biogas (AAFC & industry funds)
Environmental efficiency of dairy cropping systems (collaborator)
Ammonia emissions from manure management (collaborator)
Carbon and water fluxes from cropping systems (collaborator)
Nitrous oxide emissions during spring thaw (collaborator)

Education and awards

PhD, Biological Engineering (Dalhousie, 2009)
BSc, Environmental Sciences (Guelph, 2003)

International experience and/or work

Greenhouse gas emissions in Cameroon

Additional links

https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=g91Ds5YAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao

Key publications

Chih-Yu Hung, Kristina Mjöfors, Timothy Rennie, Ward Smith, Brian Grant, Andrew VanderZaag. 2022. Modelling shadow and cover effects on manure temperature. 2022 Joint Canadian Society of Soil Science (CSSS) Annual Meeting-Alberta Soil Science Workshop (ASSW), Edmonton, Alberta. May 23-27, 2022. https://csss-assw2022.ca/CSSS_ASSW_2022_Proceedings.pdf
2022 - View publication details
Ward Smith, Brian Grant, Ray Desjardins, Andrew VanderZaag, Craig Drury, Claudia Wagner-Riddle, Elizabeth Pattey, Budong Qian, Mervin St. Luce, Brian McConkey, Wentian He, Rong Jiang. 2021. Canada DNDC, a full farm agroecosystem model for identifying sustainable and resilient agricultural management. Workshop on Soil Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Emission Mitigation Modeling in Agriculture. AAFC, Agricultural Climate Solutions. Nov. 3-4, 2021.
2021 - View publication details
VanderZaag, A., Rajagopal, R. Desjardins, R., Coates, T., Hao, X., Bittman, S. 2021. Reducing Emissions from Manure Management. Report to AAFC’s Climate Change Roadmap project. 32 pp
2021 - View publication details
Smith, W., Grant, B., Qi, Z., He, W., Qian, B., Jing, Q., VanderZaag, A., Drury, C.F., St. Luce, M., Wagner-Riddle, C. (2020). Towards an improved methodology for modelling climate change impacts on cropping systems in cool climates. Science of the Total Environment, [online] 728 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138845
2020 - View publication details
Smith, W., B. Grant, Z. Qi, W. He, B. Qian, Q. Jing, A. VanderZaag, C.F. Drury, M. St Luce, and Claudia Wagner-Riddlee. Towards an improved methodology for modelling climate change impacts on cropping systems. The 54th Congress of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS), Virtual session, May 27, 2020.
2020 - View publication details
He, W., Dutta, B., Grant, B.B., Chantigny, M.H., Hunt, D., Bittman, S., Tenuta, M., Worth, D., VanderZaag, A., Desjardins, R.L., Smith, W.N. (2020). Assessing the effects of manure application rate and timing on nitrous oxide emissions from managed grasslands under contrasting climate in Canada. Science of the Total Environment, [online] 716 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135374
2020 - View publication details
Smith, W., Grant, B., Qi, Z., He, W., VanderZaag, A., Drury, C.F., Helmers, M. (2020). Development of the DNDC model to improve soil hydrology and incorporate mechanistic tile drainage: A comparative analysis with RZWQM2. Environmental Modelling and Software, [online] 123 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.104577
2020 - View publication details
Libby, M.D., Vander Zaag, A.C., Gregorich, E.G., Wagner-Riddle, C. (2020). An improved laboratory method shows that freezing intensity increases n2o emissions. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, [online] 100(2), 136-149. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjss-2019-0073
2020 - View publication details
He, W., Grant, B.B., Smith, W.N., VanderZaag, A.C., Piquette, S., Qian, B., Jing, Q., Rennie, T.J., Bélanger, G., Jégo, G., Deen, B. (2019). Assessing alfalfa production under historical and future climate in eastern Canada: DNDC model development and application. Environmental Modelling and Software, [online] 122 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2019.104540
2019 - View publication details
Jayasundara, S., Worden, D., Weersink, A., Wright, T., VanderZaag, A., Gordon, R., Wagner-Riddle, C. (2019). Improving farm profitability also reduces the carbon footprint of milk production in intensive dairy production systems. Journal of Cleaner Production, [online] 229 1018-1028. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.04.013
2019 - View publication details
Smith, W., Z. Qi, B. Grant, W. He, A. VanderZaag, C. Drury, C. Tan, M. and Helmers. Towards improving the DNDC model for simulating soil hydrology and tile drainage. 2019 ASABE Annual International Meet, Boston, Massachusetts, July 7–10, 2019. DOI:https://doi.org/10.13031/aim.20
2019 - View publication details
Baldé, H., Zaag, A.V., Smith, W., Desjardins, R.L. (2019). Ammonia Emissions Measured Using Two Different GasFinder Open-Path Lasers. Atmosphere, [online] 10(5), http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/atmos10050261
2019 - View publication details
Smith, W., B. Grant, W. He, Z. Qi, A. VanderZaag, Kamaljit Banger, Craig Drury, and Claudia Wagner-Riddle. Modelling approach for identifying management practices that reduce GHG emissions from cropping systems in Canada. Proceedings of the workshop on “Climate change, reactive nitrogen, food security and sustainable agriculture”, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, 15-16 April, 2019. https://mopga.imk-ifu.kit.edu/workshop-presentations
2019 - View publication details
Ngwabie, N.M., Wirlen, Y.L., Yinda, G.S., VanderZaag, A.C. (2019). Quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from municipal solid waste dumpsites in Cameroon. Waste Management, [online] 87 947-953. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2018.02.048
2019 - View publication details
Smith, W., Grant, B., Qi, Z., He, W., VanderZaag, A., Drury, C.F., Vergè, X., Balde, H., Gordon, R., Helmers, M.J. (2019). Assessing the impacts of climate variability on fertilizer management decisions for reducing nitrogen losses from corn silage production. Journal of Environmental Quality, [online] 48(4), 1006-1015. http://dx.doi.org/10.2134/jeq2018.12.0433
2019 - View publication details
Smith, W., Qi, Z., Grant, B., VanderZaag, A., Desjardins, R. (2019). Comparing hydrological frameworks for simulating crop biomass, water and nitrogen dynamics in a tile drained soybean-corn system: Cascade vs computational approach. Journal of Hydrology X, [online] 2 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hydroa.2018.100015
2019 - View publication details
Sokolov, V., VanderZaag, A., Habtewold, J., Dunfield, K., Wagner-Riddle, C., Venkiteswaran, J.J., Gordon, R. (2019). Greenhouse gas mitigation through dairy manure acidification, 48(5), 1435-1443. http://dx.doi.org/10.2134/jeq2018.10.0355
2019 - View publication details
Taki, R., Wagner-Riddle, C., Parkin, G., Gordon, R., VanderZaag, A. (2019). Comparison of two gap-filling techniques for nitrous oxide fluxes from agricultural soil. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, [online] 99(1), 12-24. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjss-2018-0041
2019 - View publication details
He, W., Smith, W.N., Grant, B.B., VanderZaag, A.C., Schwager, E.A., Qi, Z., Reynolds, D., Wagner-Riddle, C. (2019). Understanding the fertilizer management impacts on water and nitrogen dynamics for a corn silage tile-drained system in Canada. Journal of Environmental Quality, [online] 48(4), 1016-1028. http://dx.doi.org/10.2134/jeq2018.11.0414
2019 - View publication details
VanderZaag, A.C., Baldé, H., Habtewold, J., Le Riche, E.L., Burtt, S., Dunfield, K., Gordon, R.J., Jenson, E., Desjardins, R.L. (2019). Intermittent agitation of liquid manure: effects on methane, microbial activity, and temperature in a farm-scale study, 69(9), 1096-1106. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2019.1629359
2019 - View publication details