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Nearly 40 percent of farmers surveyed plan to reduce nitrogen application rates

Some farmers are planning to adjust nitrogen application plans because of rising input prices, according to the latest Purdue University/CME Group Ag Economy Barometer.

Jim Mintert is the director of the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture.

“Roughly four out of 10 corn producers in the survey said that they were going to reduce their nitrogen application rate in 2022 compared to what they used in 2021,” he says.

He tells Brownfield farmers are facing record fertilizer costs.

“The USDA’s report for the state of Illinois, for example, indicated that anhydrous ammonia is running just about triple what it was at this time last year,” he says. “With that rise in prices one of the challenges is what you do, and we were interested in finding out if people are starting to make some adjustments.”

Nearly 60 percent of corn producers surveyed say they plan to use the same nitrogen application rates this season.  

Mintert says according to agronomic information from Purdue and other Land Grant Universities in the corn belt, farmers could benefit from reducing nitrogen rates.

He suggests that growers use research data like the Nitrogen Rate Calculator to help determine the optimum nitrogen rates for their operation in 2022.

The Ag Economy Barometer is a monthly national survey of 400 U.S. agricultural producers.

Audio: Jim Mintert