Let’s Bring Nutrient Management into the 21^st Century!

You don’t see many farmers using trucks, combines or tractors from the mid-1950s in their day-to-day work. So why do today’s modern, business-minded farmers still base their nutrient management plans on methodology developed in that same era?

For decades, agronomists and farmers throughout the Midwest have used a standard rule for managing nutrient concentration levels in their soils. But this “critical level” methodology is outdated:

• It creates recommendations where the same amount of nutrient is applied across the entire acre;
  
• The “critical level” methodology is based on static nutrient levels across the acre. It fails to consider factors such as slope or topography within the acre - physical properties which affect nutrient availability and uptake.
  
• Many acres have high and low areas. Lower areas closer to the water table are deemed “at risk” for nutrient loading – but typically we don’t manage that at the sub-acre level.
  
• Conversely, we know that areas with greater elevation or “slope” pose a risk for runoff. But using traditional nutrient recommendations treats all areas of the acre the same in terms of application rates. This results in unnecessary nutrient waste via over-application in some areas, and poor nutrient utilization due to under-application in others.

Say goodbye to outdated, inefficient nutrient management ideas. It’s time to bring nutrient management into the 21^st century. Introducing Advanced Agrilytics – using unbiased research and agronomic technology to give growers the most precise nutrient management recommendations available.

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Years ago, our founders realized the shortcomings of outdated, traditional nutrient management recommendations.

They thought, “what if there was a precision agronomic technology that addressed the influence of additional factors that affect nutrient efficiency?” Factors such as soil landscape position in the field, water availability and nutrient removal statistics at the sub-acre level, for example.

Using independent, unbiased research, they developed a spatial analysis technology that examines these environmental factors at the sub-acre level. And now, you can use this advanced precision technology to boost phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) efficiency on all your acres while minimizing nutrient waste due to over-applying.

Let’s walk through the math: Currently, MAP is approximately $700/ton, and potash is approximately $400/ton. Using traditional nutrient management methods and applying the same rate over the entire acre could result in over-application of $30-$40 per acre. In a 1,000-acre farming operation, that’s $30,000 to $40,000 wasted in over-applied nutrients.

In addition, these outdated methods could result in under applying nutrients in other areas of the acre, leaving bushels of potential yield unrealized. Our data shows:

*Loss Per Acre is calculated at commodity prices of $4.00/bu for corn and $10/bu for soybeans.

Water, Diffusion and Nutrient Efficiency

Soil scientists have realized for decades that high percentages of P and K are taken up by the plant through the process of diffusion. In fact, plants get approximately 93% of their P and 85% of their K through diffusion. Diffusion is defined as the “net movement of nutrients from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration.”

Almost every growing season, we experience periods of reduced moisture availability. In the early part of the growing season, it’s a race to get P & K in the plant, particularly on the high ground where water limitations are often a serious risk. However, what if we could reallocate our P & K investment dollars by putting higher concentrations of nutrients in environments with lower diffusion rates (high ground), and lower concentrations of nutrients in environments with higher diffusion rates (low ground). Then when we do receive soil moisture, we can make more efficient use of our fertilizer placement and move a tremendous amount of nutrients to the roots before the water-limited acres dry out again.

Research shows that there is a very strong correlation between water availability and diffusion:

This means that in sub-acre environments with less water availability, fertilizer concentration is essential to nutrient uptake and efficiency. On the other hand, sub-acre environments with more water availability require a lower fertilizer concentration, because diffusion is occurring more efficiently in those areas.

That’s why Advanced Agrilytics went beyond traditional critical level recommendations to calculate a spatial critical level value for each sub-acre in the field. That allows us to create much more precise nutrient application recommendations, which increases nutrient use efficiency and improves yield consistency across all acres. The multi-year results of this “environmental adjustment” have shown a positive influence on yield, particularly on acres that have been a net-loss to the operation.

Are you ready to bring your nutrient management strategy into the 21st century by making the most efficient use of your fertilizer investment dollars while maximizing productivity at the same time? Because in the current economic environment, we must invest every dollar wisely and get more bushels for our money.