Dr. Andrew VanderZaag

Image 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

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

Key publications

  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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

  5. 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

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. 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

  9. 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

  10. 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

  11. 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

  12. 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

  13. 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

  14. 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

  15. 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

  16. 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

  17. 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

  18. 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

  19. 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

  20. 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

Research facility

960 Carling Avenue
Ottawa, ON K1A 0C6
Canada

Affiliations

Adjunct Professor:

  • University of Guelph
  • Wilfrid Laurier University
  • Carleton University
  • University of Bamenda

 

Language

English