Executing an Effective Nutrient Stewardship Strategy

Growers are exploring every option to trim costs in the current economy. However, building a strong fertility foundation is a critical first step that requires the right products and proper timing while avoiding cost cutting measures that can compromise yield.

Tryston Beyrer, Crop Nutrition Lead with The Mosaic Co., emphasizes that starting with a strong foundation is essential to achieving healthy crops and high yields. However: “If you’re short on nutrients at any point in the season, it takes away from your top yield potential, and that’s yield than you cannot get back.”

Beyrer is seeing growers apply higher rates of nutrients like sulfur. One reason is to increase nitrogen efficiency, thereby reducing overall nitrogen use, which is helpful considering the higher nitrogen prices over the past few years.

As for the recommendations on sulfur, it ranges from a conservative 15 pounds per acre on some crops like soybeans, and up to 25 or 30 pounds on corn or low organic matter course textured soils. For the “higher yield guys,” it could be up to 40 or 50 pounds or more of sulfur per acre, says Beyrer.

There is also a trend for higher rates of boron being applied — in some cases, a pound or more per acre, which is significantly higher than the typical one or two ounces per acre for corn, and five to seven ounces per acre for soybeans.

Zinc is another micronutrient that more growers are applying today, says Beyrer.

While zinc is not very mobile in soil, nitrogen, sulfur, and boron are mobile in the soil and it’s important that they’re applied in a balanced approach, preferably on an annual basis based on the crops’ uptake requirements.

“Don’t put all your eggs in just one of those baskets. You need a little bit of each of those,” cautions Beyrer.

Biologicals is another area generating more interest from growers, says Beyrer.

Yet, growers need to understand that biological products have different modes of action and target uses.

“For example, our BioPath and PowerCoat are more broad-spectrum that encompass and help increase the uptake of several different nutrients, while other products are focused on P-solubilization,” he says

Beyrer emphasizes that it’s best for growers to work with retailers and companies whose biological products are backed by solid data and who are transparent about where the data comes from.

Indeed, some retailers are so impressed with biologicals’ ability to enhance fertilizer performance that they don’t want to offer fertilizer without biologicals because they would view that as a “disservice to growers,” shares Beyrer.

When it comes to biologicals, “We’re focused on delivering a three-to-one ROI while keeping our biological products affordable so growers can scale them across more acres,” he adds.

Careful Cost Cutting

Across the board, growers are eyeing their crop management plans to find ways to reduce costs.

Beyrer advises to steer clear of making “drastic cuts” that can have detrimental effects and instead opt for data-based decisions, whether that’s data from in-field farm trials or soil tests focused on fertility.

He suggests increasing adoption of variable rate fertilizer and “put that fertilizer where it’s going to give you the biggest bang for your buck,” which is a good way to be a steward of nutrients while easing the pain on the pocketbook.

Ultimately, one of the best ways to combat higher costs is to produce more bushels, so be aware of where you’re cutting costs so as not to impact bushels.

According to Beyrer, some growers say: “‘I’m going to cut fertility this year, and I’ll fix it later.’”

But it’s challenging to truly fix or make up for those lost pounds of fertilizer in subsequent years if you’re cutting below maintenance application rates or below crop removal rates, he explains.

Meanwhile, delayed decision-making on fertilizer application has consequences. Come fall, while some growers are confident in what they applied, others are left wondering if they should have applied a little bit more.

Counting on Carbon-Based Products

Fred Nichols, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Huma, Inc., notes that persistently high fertilizer prices are driving grower interest in regenerative agriculture practices and soil health. And while many growers still rely on salt-based synthetic products, “I’ve had many progressive growers tell me they’ve got to reduce their reliance on salt because it’s not good for their long-term operation.”

Huma offers carbon-based products that are formulated with humates.

“We’re seeing some big opportunities in that area. Some of our technologies enable growers to reduce their fertilizer application rates anywhere from 10 to 25%,” says Nichols.

At the same time, Nichols says interest in nitrogen inhibitors are a “big topic.”

Most growers simply “want to get what they paid for,” he says, adding that there are situations where growers must over-apply fertilizer just to get what they need in the plant. Oftentimes, nutrient stewardship comes down to bio-availability, Nichols says.

“For instance, can those nutrients be readily absorbed by the roots?” Nichols asks. “This is where our carbon-based products can unlock a lot of those tie-ups in the soil and make it more efficient.”

Timing is Everything

Nichols says a lot of growers are discovering that they need to stop working their soil and start working with it. At the same time, timing is every-thing when it comes to nutritional products.

“In many cases, it’s more important when you apply something rather than what you apply,” he says.

It starts with understanding the key stages in a plant’s life and then making sure it has what it needs during those times.

“It used to be that growers would pre-plant, put a lot of product on, then just scout and make sure everything was okay and treat accordingly. But those days are mostly gone,” says Nichols.

Now it’s more about “spoon feeding” nutrients, he says.

These days, “growers are coming in with a plan of how they want to treat their crop,” and they’re looking for information on when is the best time and rate and what products they should use and when, adds Nichols.