Thinking About Nitrogen & the Gulf
By: Katie McWhirter, Precision Ag Specialist
According to National Geographic reports, the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic (low oxygen) Zone (the Dead Zone), will be 8,776 square miles in 2017. That’s about the size of New Jersey, or 1/6th of the state of Iowa and the biggest it’s ever been. Of course, this will not go unnoticed. Although not the only cause, it’s safe to say that the blame will be placed heavily on agriculture.
As crops are coming out of the fields, the shift to the 2018 season will be in full view. With 2017 predictions of the third highest recorded crop, corn prices continue to stay down. Accompanying these low prices is cheap nitrogen. Before we all get excited, re-read my first paragraph. Although it’s very tempting to forgo a nitrogen stabilizer, can we afford to over-apply nitrogen without one? Not only are you keeping nitrogen in the ground but you are protecting your investment at the same time. We seem to think the easy button for better yields is nitrogen but if we don’t know if it’s our limiting factor, why over apply?
Nitrogen and its usage can be complex. Several companies have gone towards nitrogen modeling; prescriptions based off models that look at climate, soils, and management. They have been met with skepticism. However, we may be running out of time for voluntary efforts to improve the Gulf of Mexico. One basic step towards helping is embracing precision application if you have yet to implement it.
ProVantage offers precision nitrogen applications as well as Enhanced Learning Blocks. These Enhanced Learning Blocks are in-field scientific experiments that are replicated a minimum of 5 times. All the while being randomized within the trial area. Prescriptions can be optimized and environmentally defensible on YOUR fields. That’s right, local data; not the neighbor, not a university research facility, and not from a seed company.
I challenge you to think about your nutrient practices as you are reaping your harvest. We all must be working together to continuously improve our methods. What are you doing to help?