News

Identifying the Economic Optimal N Rate

Researchers are looking at the dynamics of nitrogen fertilizer to help farmers become more efficient.

USDA soil scientist and University of Missouri professor Dr. Newell Kitchen says optimizing fertility takes many factors into account.

“You have soil variations, weather variations, the interaction of those two.  You get these things that go on in the spacial variations within fields.  You’ve got your management inputs.”

Kitchen has been involved in a three-year project examining various nitrogen recommendation tools.

He says farmers often list fertilizer management as one of the most challenging decisions of modern corn production because it’s a moving target.

“From the farmer’s perspective, if he under-applies it then he’s leaving profit on the table.  So there’s a tendency to push it to the upper end.  The problem with that is now we have a counter-push on that, and the counter-push is environmental.”

Kitchen calls the target an Economic Optimal N Rate (EONR) farmers can use when determining recommendations.

He says scientific contributions from the research are being published and that DuPont Pioneer will be using the data for its nitrogen modeling calibration tool.