Across Western Canada, farmers are in the process of harvesting their crops or have just completed the task. This year was a challenging growing season due to the number of days with record-high temperatures and a lack of precipitation. Now is also the time of year when many growers are preparing for next spring’s planting season by applying fertilizers and other nutrients. For savvy farmers, this is the time they look to science to help improve their yields and save money by utilizing soil sampling and variable rate technology to identify what their fields need right now so they can avoid costly inefficiencies.
The process is simple enough. Soil samples are taken throughout a grower’s fields for analysis, which gives detailed information on its chemical makeup, including the availability of macro and micro-nutrients, its pH balance, and salt levels. “Essentially, it gives you a look and feel for what is the true productive capacity of the soil in a micro-region,” says Jamie Denbow, vice president of Digital Agronomy at Farmers Edge.
With this knowledge, farmers can pinpoint areas of their land that can produce higher yields, have adequate nutrients, or need more fertilizer for the spring. This information goes hand-in-hand with Variable-Rate Technology (VRT) in applying supplemental nutrients to a field.
VRT follows the four Rs: right rate, right product, right place and the right time. A farmer who utilizes this technology only applies the necessary fertilizer to parts of the field that need it without wasting expensive chemicals on areas that will produce low yields or already have adequate nutrients in the ground. In past years, a farmer might have added 100 pounds of nitrogen per acre to their fields. Thanks to accurate information on the soil’s residual nutrient makeup, they might only need 46 pounds of nitrogen in one area, 77 pounds in another—or none on several acres that already have high nitrogen levels.
Because of this summer’s extreme weather, soil information and targeted application of fertilizers are more critical than ever because drought-like conditions have left uneven residual levels of nutrients in the fields. Considering the high price of fertilizer, knowing where (and how much) to apply can save a significant sum of money.
“I have never seen a fall that has this range of residual fertilizer availability,” says Farmers Edge’s Denbow. “For a grower to go in and make nutrient applications on the soil after the year we just had, you could be costing yourself $40 an acre. That fertilizer is already in the ground, but you don’t know about it because you didn’t test your soil.”
Soil sampling and VRT are inexpensive, and they typically range between $1.50 and $3 per acre. But considering the price of nutrients, it is the type of investment that can more than pay for itself in short-term and long-term cost savings. In addition, these techniques help with sustainability, reduce waste, and improve yields—all of which put more money into farmer’s pockets year after year.
Click here to get soil sampling and unlimited VR prescriptions for only $2/acre.
