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Corn nitrogen rate calculator
An online tool can help producers identify the optimum rate of nitrogen to maximize efficiency.
Dr. Fabian Fernandez is a professor of nutrient management at the University of Minnesota. He says nitrogen is the most important nutrient, primarily because of how responsive corn is to it.
As farmers look at their fertility programs as an area to potentially cut costs, Fernandez tells Brownfield a nitrogen calculator is a useful device.
“What we are looking for with this calculator is not to maximize the yield, but maximize the efficiency of that yield. In other words making a profit out of it.”
He says the calculator’s maximum possible yield and the economic optimum yield typically aren’t that far apart.
“They’re anywhere from 95 to 98 percent of that maximum, so it’s those last bushels of yield that takes more nitrogen than the yield will pay for that sometimes can get people into trouble.”
The corn nitrogen rate calculator is available through Iowa State’s website and Fernandez says it includes data from multiple states throughout the Midwest.
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