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Minnesota farmers are up to the nitrogen challenge

Nitrogen fertilizer application Reading Time: 2 minutes

Written by Jonathan Eisenthal

Western Minnesota farmers who apply urea after harvest are becoming increasingly disappointed with the yield returns from their investment. 

Research by University of Minnesota Professor Fabian Fernandez over the past three years shows that fall urea placement in southwest, west central and northwest Minnesota has become less effective, and farmers should shift to anhydrous ammonia or spring placement of urea in order to get better results. The results were presented at the fifth annual Nitrogen: Minnesota’s Grand Challenge and Compelling Opportunity Conference, held at the Verizon Center in Mankato earlier this month.

“It’s happened in the western part of the state, the same way they found in south central Minnesota some time ago, that warmer winters and wetter springs mean that urea doesn’t work as well as it did before,” said Fernandez, who works in the University’s Department of Soil, Water and Climate.

Fernandez’ research was one of many offerings at the day of presentations, panel discussions and networking that drew more than 150 participants.

Among the new participants was Professor Anna Cates, who recently joined the University of Minnesota’s Department of Soil, Water and Climate to create a unit called the Minnesota Office of Soil Health. Cates’ position will utilize research and Extension to promote practices that improve soil health across the state. She will also work with local conservation officials to bring them the latest research on methods to prevent soil loss, which in turn prevents the loss of nutrients, such as phosphorus, into water resources.

Also at the conference, Fernandez and his colleagues discussed the effectiveness of the Nitrogen Rate Calculator, which is a resource for farmers calculating economic return to N application.

“The Nitrogen Rate Calculator is becoming more and more robust, as more results from site-years of research are added to the data base. You can select for your region, and Minnesota is well represented in the data set,” said Fernandez.

Carrie Laboski, who is a professor at the University of Wisconsin’s Department of Soil Science, presented research on nitrogen use efficiency that confirmed the connection between the economically optimal rate of nitrogen fertilizer and stewardship that limits the environmental impact from nutrient loss.

“There will always be residual nitrogen in a corn and soybeans crop system, but Laboski’s work shows that going beyond the economically optimal rate will result in lower returns on the investment and higher residual nitrogen with the possibility of greater nitrogen loss,” Fernandez reported.

The conference is organized each year by University of Minnesota Extension and the Minnesota Agricultural Water Resource Center, and supported by a wide range of private and public organizations including the Minnesota Corn Growers Association and the Agricultural Fertilizer Research and Education Council.

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