Precision Pays Podcast: Adaptive nitrogen management

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Meghan

What if there was a way to know if too much nitrogen is applied one year or not enough the next year – before the application is ever made?

Cornell University professor of soil science Harold van Es says by utilizing adaptive nitrogen management they’re trying to account for the many factors that influence how much nitrogen a corn crop will actually need.

In this Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, we’ll talk to Harold van Es of Cornell University about Adapt-N.

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The Precision Pays Podcast is sponsored by Ag Leader Technology.

Nutrient Management with Late Planting

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Cindy

Planting is definitely running behind normal in the Corn Belt, but it’s nothing to worry about just yet.

“Just stick to the original plan” when it comes to nutrient management,” says John Grandin, Senior Field Sales Agronomist at GROWMARK, Inc. “If the original plan calls for spring-applied anhydrous ammonia, then stick with spring-applied anhydrous ammonia.”

However, Grandin points out the possibility of burning corn roots or even killing the seedling if application is followed too quickly by planting. “We can manage that by putting the anhydrous ammonia on at an angle to the direction of row planting,” he said. That will help decrease the possibility of free ammonia being trapped in the knife track as a result of wetter soils. “We don’t want to be planting directly on top of the anhydrous knife track for any length of row.”

Listen to this interview with Grandin to find out more: GROWMARK agronomist John Grandin

Precision Ag Has Implications On Food Security

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Talia

Precision agriculture promises to make farming more efficient and should have an important impact on the serious issue of food security, according to a new study published in Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society and the American Statistical Association.

Spatial variation is at the core of precision agriculture and geostatistics. All aspects of the environment — soil, rocks, weather, vegetation, water, etc. – vary from place to place over the Earth. The soil, landform, drainage, and so on all affect crop growth, and these factors generally vary within agricultural fields. Farmers have always been aware of this situation, but have not been able to measure and map it in a quantitative way.

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The 4Rs are All Right

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Cindy

Everything is right about the 4Rs of nutrient management – the right source, the right rate, the right time, and the right place for applying nutrients in the field.

“It actually drives a farmer to look more at a systems approach to nutrient management rather than just making an application and moving to the next step,” said Dr. Howard Brown, Manager of Agronomy Services for GROWMARK, Inc.

Brown says GROWMARK has been focused on nitrogen management as one of the driving factors for higher yields for the last several years. “We looked at nitrogen from the standpoint of feeding the plant nitrogen throughout the period of time that it needs it and putting some on as late as we can so the plant can utilize the nitrogen and keep plant health later in the season to equate to higher yields,” and it worked for three of the last four years – with last year being the exception because of the drought.

With planting season upon us, now is the time to look at a comprehensive nutrient management plan that encompasses the 4Rs and what Brown calls the “MOM” approach – Maximizing yield, Optimizing nitrogen utilization and Minimizing environmental impact. Brown also talks in this interview about “N-Watch” which involves taking inventory of plant-available nitrogen in the soil. “N-Watch provides us a new dimension,” Brown said. “We’ve got to manage the nitrogen in the soil.” Checking the soil for residual nitrogen Brown says will help provide farmers with a better idea of how much nitrogen they need.

Find out more in this interview: Interview with Dr. Howard Brown

Vegetation Indices and Crop Stress

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Talia

The 2013 Precision Ag Action Summit was held on January 21 & 22 in North Dakota. Richard B. Ferguson of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln gave a presentation on “Vegetation Indices and Crop Stress”. Some indicators of crop stress include color, leaf or plant shape, patterns within leaves, patterns of leaves on plant and patterns of plants within a field. Vegetation Index is measured by a combination of surface reflectance at two or more wavelengths designed to highlight a particular property of vegetation.

Summary from his presentation:
— Plant color is highly correlated with chlorophyll content, which is highly correlated with nitrogen stress.
— Crop color and biomass can be measured with optical sensors in visible and near-infrared wavelengths.
— Vegetation indices measure the relationship between canopy reflectance characteristics and crop properties of interest, such as nitrogen stress.
— Sensors to manage N stress are commercially available. Sensors for water deficit and other sources of stress are in development.

Click here to view his full presentation.

Saving Soil, Nutrients and Money with Cover Crops

Posted on December 14, 2012 by Melissa

Oregon State University (OSU) Extension specialists have spent six years studying the role cover crops play in fertility management, to the benefit of hundreds of farmers in the highly productive Willamette Valley. To date, the OSU researchers’ main contribution is a calculator for estimating the cost and nitrogen (N) contribution of cover crops, compost, and organic and synthetic fertilizers. The calculator has been used by more than 620 people since 2010, representing more than 52,000 acres.

The profit potential from cover crops’ role in nutrient management is immense: In one trial, the OSU researchers found a vetch cover crop could replace 110 pounds per acre of feather meal for a broccoli crop, leading to a cost saving of $500 per acre.

This research was supported by two Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grants, and is only one example of how SARE is at the forefront of supporting the innovative producers, educators and researchers who are making cover crops one of the most indispensible cost-saving tools in the soil-health toolbox.

This only scratches the surface of the hundreds of research and on-farm demonstration projects SARE has supported on cover crops in the last 25 years. To discover more, and to find the practical tools and guides arising from such projects, visit SARE’s Cover Crops Topic Room.

GROWMARK Excited About N-Watch

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Cindy

If farmers could determine the concentration, form and location of plant-available nitrogen, deciding when and where and how much to apply would be that much easier.

That’s the goal of N-Watch, which started this year as a small scale, pilot program by GROWMARK in partnership with FS Member Cooperatives. The objectives of the program are to quantify the form of available, soil-applied nitrogen (N), where it is located, and what happens to the concentration of available N over time in the upper 0-12 and 12-24 inch profiles of the soil.

“We go out after harvest and take an inventory of plant available nitrogen,” explained GROWMARK Agronomy Services Manager Dr. Howard Brown. “Once we have that determination, we take composite samples after that every 2-4 weeks, track the nitrogen until it freezes, then after it thaws in the spring we’ll continue to pull the samples to see if the residual nitrogen is still there.”

Brown says it’s not an exact science, “but it’s a move in the right direction, this is what we need to be doing.” GROWMARK has over 45 sites in Illinois now and they are now moving in to new sites in Iowa, where we heard about the program last week during a GROWMARK media tour.

GROWMARK is so excited about the N-Watch concept that they want it to spread quickly. “We came up with the phrase (N-Watch) but we gave the license to the Illinois Council for Best Management Practices so that it can be utilized in the Midwest,” said Howard. “It would be great if everybody used N-Watch.”

Listen to Howard’s overview of N-Watch here and watch him in the video below: Dr. Howard Brown, GROWMARK

GROWMARK Iowa Media Tour Photos

New Nitrogen Study Released

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Melissa

Plants’ ability to absorb increased levels of carbon dioxide in the air may have been overestimated, a new University of Minnesota study shows.

The study, published this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, shows that even though plants absorb large amounts of carbon dioxide and actually can benefit from higher levels of it, they may not get enough of the nutrients they need from typical soils to absorb as much CO2 as scientists had previously estimated. Carbon dioxide absorption is an important factor in mitigating fossil-fuel emissions.

The study, one of only three such long-term experiments in the world, is based on 13 years of research at the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve north of the Twin Cities, conducted by U of M scientists Peter Reich and Sarah Hobbie.

Precision Pays Podcast: Questions you need to answer

Posted on September 28, 2012 by Meghan

As farmers get into the full swing of harvest there is plenty of information to review ahead of next year. In fact some – there are some questions that they should be asking themselves.

What do I need to do on my farm to prepare for next year?
Should I be concerned about herbicide carryover?
What do I need to do to prepare the ground for a good start next spring?
Were all of the nutrients I applied this year utilized by the crop?

In this Precision Pays Podcast, sponsored by Ag Leader Technology, Brent Wilson, Pioneer Technical Service Manager answers the tough questions farmers should ask themselves when they want to maximize their productivity going in to 2013.

Precision Pays Podcast

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Nutrient Management Options Growing

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Chuck

Keynote speaker Dr. Newell Kitchen, USDA-ARS, had a unique title to his presentation, “From Poking Holes to Precision Sensing: Options Growing for Nutrient Management.” He wanted to be clear that the options available to farmers today for managing nutrients are growing. He started out with a historical perspective on what has taken place in this area in recent years.

One of the things he brings up early on is the question, “What is precision agriculture.” It’s basically a moving target and we’re probably not going to come up with a concise definition. I agree with that since precision agriculture applies to everything from row crop farming to the dairy industry.

When it comes to nutrient management he says about half the papers being presented are on this subject. It’s a big part of what the technology has been developed to control. He says there are three phases we’ve gone through that start with soil fertility. And looking ahead he says, “We do need to be visionary.” That means to see the challenges ahead of the industry and see them as opportunities and be able to respond to them and be able to convince others about the things we should be doing and if we do that we’ll find “a great frontier ahead of us.”

Listen to or download Dr. Kitchen’s remarks here: Remarks by Dr. Newell Kitchen

11th International Conference on Precision Agriculture Photo Album

AgWired coverage of the International Conference on Precision Agriculture is sponsored by John Deere

GROWMARK: Aerial Imagery More than Just Pictures

Posted on July 16, 2012 by John Davis

It’s been around for about 30 years, but aerial imagery has changed and is bringing more information to producers than ever before.

In an interview with Cindy, GROWMARK precision agriculture manager Sid Parks says we’re not just looking at pictures anymore. “We’ve got the ability to get that information digitally, so we can use that image to quantify variability within a field,” he says. And with crop prices higher than almost ever before, farmers are more willing to spend the money on these sophisticated systems.

Parks says there are several different products available, such as satellite, aircraft or drone imagery, that show a wide array of information, and they are becoming more cost effective every day. But he cautions that farmers most likely need some help interpreting what much of this data means to their operations. “Farmers probably aren’t going to feel real good or be real successful doing this directly themselves,” adding that that’s where a good service provider, such as an FS Green Plan Solutions agent, comes in. It’s a bit like looking at an x-ray. If you don’t have an expert interpreting what’s on that image, you can’t properly diagnose the problem.

Listen to the interview with Sid here:
GROWMARK precision agriculture manager Sid Parks

GROWMARK Testing Crop Sensor Technology in Corn

Posted on July 5, 2012 by John Davis

Midwest cooperative GROWMARK is looking at how well crop sensor technology like Trimble’s GreenSeeker works in Midwestern corn fields. We talked with GROWMARK precision agriculture manager Sid Parks about GreenSeeker, which is a sensor application either mounted on equipment or handheld that senses how green the crop is with the hope of assessing how much additional nitrogen the crop needs.

“Our purpose is to see that the crop has adequate nitrogen,” Parks says. “First you calibrate the sensor across a zone that has adequate nitrogen. You then drive the application equipment across the canopy, and the GreenSeeker measures how green the crop is compared to the N rich strip, The software then tells a controller how much nitrogen might be needed by that crop in that area.”

The technology has been around for about 10 years since being developed primarily for wheat in Oklahoma and similar sensing products have been developed, like Ag Leader’s OptRx™. Parks says since the technology reads the health of the plant to determine levels in the soil, times such as this year’s drought can pose some problems.

“Nitrogen is very mobile. It’s highly influenced by temperature, by moisture, by application method. The thing the sensor can’t do is tell you if nitrogen is actually available in the soil. It’s just telling you how green the crop is,” says Parks. He goes on to say that for example, during times of plant stress from drought conditions, like the ones now hitting the crops in the Midwest, it won’t measure how much nitrogen is in the soil… just how green the crop is.

Parks says they are working with GreenSeeker in some FS GreenPlan Solutions Pursuit of Maximum Yield discovery plots and hope to have more information later this year or at least by the next planting season. He says farmers interested in GreenSeeker should talk to their GROWMARK crop specialist.

Listen to an interview with Sid here:
GROWMARK precision agriculture manager Sid Parks

Dry Conditions May Impact Nitrogen Application

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Cindy

Dry conditions may have a negative impact on nitrogen applications in some areas of the country, according to experts at South Dakota State University.

According to SDSU Extension Soils Specialist Ron Gelderman, while surface application of nitrogen fertilizer in late fall and early spring is a typical practice in South Dakota, dry soils this season may be putting that nitrogen in jeopardy.

“With the weather being so very dry, warm and windy, and if we didn’t get that third to a half an inch of precipitation on that urea to move it into the soil and protect it, fields could have experienced some significant loss,” Gelderman said in a radio interview.

Typically, moisture moves the nitrogen down into the soil profile where it is protected from loss, but the lack of moisture may have allowed some of the nitrogen to volatize. Gelderman says a soil test can determine whether the nitrogen is still there, however, he recommends waiting to soil test, and to have the lab analyze the sample for both nitrate and ammonium.

“We can’t assume that it’s all going to be lost. We think there could be significant amounts remaining. Problem is that some of it may still be in the urea form, and not too many labs can test for urea. So, what we’re suggesting is to soil sample later but still in time that we can fertilize these plants and still do some good,” he said.

Gelderman says winter wheat, which is at, or close to jointing, will need a nitrogen application soon if significant loss of the applied urea occurred. Producers have more time before they need to test spring- planted grains and row crops. Gelderman says growers may want to use a urease inhibitor with future surface urea applications to increase the odds of getting some moisture.

Environmental Groups Sue over Nutrients

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Cindy

A coalition of environmental groups has filed lawsuits in New York and Louisiana to require the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Water Act to address nitrogen and phosphorous runoff in the Mississippi River basin.

The lawsuits allege that nitrogen and phosphorous fertilizer run-off from farm fields adversely affects water quality in the Mississippi River basin and creates a “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.

According to the environmental legal firm of Faegre Baker Daniels, the implications of the lawsuits are significant for the agriculture industry and farmers, noting that the cost of complying with the nitrogen and phosphorous standards sought by environmental groups could be as high as $600 million per year nationwide.

Industry groups are considering intervening in the actions. Industry intervention in the Gulf Restoration Network case appears particularly likely because that action addresses the question whether EPA acted reasonably in rejecting a nationwide nitrogen and phosphorous standard in favor of EPA’s existing cooperative, state-by-state approach to nutrient management.

January 31 Deadline for USDA Conservation Innovation Grants

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Cindy

January 31, 2012 is the deadline to submit project pre-proposals for fiscal year 2012 Conservation Innovation Grants (CIG) from the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). Pre-proposals support large-scale demonstration projects that test and prove original approaches to conserving America’s private lands.

“These conservation grants continue to generate exciting new ideas that help farmers and ranchers run sustainable and profitable operations and address high-priority natural resource concerns,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

This year’s CIG projects focus on nutrient management, energy conservation, soil health, wildlife and CIG projects assessment. NRCS is especially interested in projects that demonstrate:

-Optimal combinations of nutrient source, application rate, placement and timing that improve nutrient recovery by crops.
-Procedures for refining the usefulness of the phosphorous index in reducing phosphorous losses.
-Suites of conservation practices that protect water quality.
-Renewable energy systems that reduce the use of fossil fuels and increase energy efficiency on farms.
-The impacts of cover crops, crop rotations, tillage and other conservation practices on soil health.
-Conservation practices that increase the water-holding capacity of soils.
-Decision tools that help producers assess their operations and conservation needs in order to improve wildlife habitat.
Assess the technology transfer potential of completed CIG projects.

More about the program and application process is available on-line from USDA.

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Category Archives: Nutrient Management