A stable ecosystem and climate are essential to our civilization. The major plant nutrients, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (N, P, K), are vital to life on earth, including our own food web and our society. Our food supply is in jeopardy if our agricultural producers can’t find sufficient amounts of any of these elements but our stable ecosystem is at risk if these nutrients end up in the wrong places in the right quantities. So nutrient management is about maintaining these essential elements where they can do the most good. My work in nutrient recovery narrows that focus to the nutrients in the food animal production system. More details to follow.