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Iowa farmer cuts fertilizer rates, still gets “excellent yields”

A north Iowa farmer is cutting back on fertilizer.

Josh Nelson grows corn and soybeans near Belmond and says he planted some cover crops last summer to help with nitrogen and developed a plan to spray liquid nitrogen over the top when burning his cover crops down.

“I’ve actually cut my fertilizer rates by a significant amount compared to years past to where my corn, if things go well, I’m looking at using about six-tenths of a pound of nitrogen per bushel of corn produced.”

He tells Brownfield that’s well below typical nitrogen rate recommendations.

“And we’re still getting excellent yields. It’s taken a lot of planning (and) a lot of effort, but even if supply challenges crop up this I feel like I’ve put a plan in place to where I can hopefully handle things.”

Nelson says he’s also exploring micronutrients to see if any products can improve crop performance.