The purpose of this conference was to review the comprehensive national research effort currently being performed in the field of nitrogen management in irrigated agriculture. The National Science Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the University of California's Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences jointly sponsored the conference. The comprehensive research approach has proven successful in harmonizing conflicting projects where economy of production and the protection of environmental quality have come into opposition. The growth of public concern over nitrate pollution of water supplies has resulted in the government's increased encouragement, through Federal grants, of the agricultural and environmental aspects of soil nitrate research. The diverse research topics presented at the conference included nitrogen's role in agricultural production, its relation to water quality, crop utilization, removal by irrigated crops, nitrate leaching from soils, economic impacts and methodology, case studies, mathematical studies, and diagnostic identification techniques for nitrogen fertilization.