Soil fertility BMP’s for farmers dealing with record-high input costs

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Soil fertility BMP’s for farmers dealing with record-high input costs

An extension fertilizer specialist points to soil fertility best management practices (BMP’s) as farmers look to cut down on crop input expenses.

Fabian Fernandez with the University of Minnesota says nitrogen is essential for good yields, but costs are eating into returns.

“Certainly farmers are looking at ways to still get high yields but try to minimize how much nitrogen they will need to apply. So there are some strategies.”

He tells Brownfield nitrogen rates tend to get much of the focus.

“Which is one of the Best Management Practices, but there are others. The timing of application, the nitrogen source, the type of placement, all of those things can help.”

Fernandez says examples of fertilizer BMP’s are incorporating urea into the soil with tillage or timing nitrogen applications as close to when crops need it as possible.  

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