3 Tips for Reducing Nitrogen Use On Your Farm Without Losing Crop Quality
5 Dec 232 min 11 sec

Kelly Garrett shares his insights on why cutting down on nitrogen is not only a smart agronomic decision but also likely a necessary step in preparation for potential future regulations on farms.


00:00 I believe every farmer should look at reducing nitrogen for a couple different reasons. Number one, it's considered to be one 00:05 of the most sustainable things you can do. I believe regulations will be coming down from the DNR and the EPA in future years on our nitrogen use. 00:13 So we need to learn how to cope with those struggles before we're being forced to do so. I think agronomic, it actually is the right thing to do 00:21 because I believe our plants are out of balance. I believe farmers generally overly nitrogen compared to other nutrients. 00:27 We need to bring our fertility plans into balance to allow our plants to reach their potential. The number one way that I think a farmer should reduce 00:36 nitrogen is variable rate technology. We apply 80 pounds of anhydrous in a high yield area all the way up to 160 00:43 or even 180 pounds in a low yield area. By adopting variable rate technology, I have reduced my nitrogen usage 20 to 30%. 00:51 The second tip I would have to reduce nitrogen is a split application. We have now turned our anhydrous down a bit 00:57 and put that nitrogen as a liquid form on the planter. Putting it in the two by two where the roots can reach it right away leads 01:04 to a greater yield gain, uh, faster plant growth. And even though it slows us down a bit, we do see an ROI from the nitrogen in the 01:11 two by two on the planter. It's an important thing to do early season, especially when it's cold. 01:16 We have even started to apply a bit of nitrogen later season with the plane at R one 01:21 or even R five to get that, give that plant a boost for the final push towards yield. The third way to reduce nitrogen is to use a stabilizer. 01:28 Many different forms of stabilizers out there. The one we've seen the greatest return with is maintain elite from maim is put into the tanks 01:35 by our retailer when they're filling 'em with the anhydrous to bring to the field. It gives us great security in knowing 01:40 that our nitrogen is gonna stay put. And in 23, we saw a really nice yield gain from the maintain elite versus other stabilizers or even just bare anhydrous. 01:49 So I really encourage everyone to try a nitrogen stabilizer. The detailed results of 01:54 that maintain elite trial are available on extreme ag.farm. There are some other ways we could talk about 02:00 reducing nitrogen that are more in depth, but these are my three easy tips that a farmer could use to reduce nitrogen and add money to your pocketbook.

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