Optimal Nitrogen Use

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

FarmTest and the Iowa Nitrogen Initiative (INI) have recently teamed up to deploy fertilizer rate trials on farms in Iowa to determine where, how and when to apply nitrogen. INI co-founder Dr. Mike Castellano says it’s a win-win because farmers are more informed with their inputs, and it also depicts just how efficient U.S. farmers are with their nitrogen usage.

Castellano..."There's a common good here as well. And that is to demonstrate how efficient U.S. farmers are. And having those data transparent and open to the public are really important as we start to value the environmental outcomes of U.S. agriculture and crop production. When we look at things like scoring the carbon intensity of our crops, over 70 percent of the carbon intensity score from the production of a bushel of corn comes from nitrogen, whether it's N2O emissions from the field or the energy embedded in the fertilizer that is applied to the field. Same thing even for soybeans, which typically does not receive nitrogen fertilizer over 70 percent from nitrous oxide emissions and the small amount of fertilizer that soybeans do receive. So having these data publicly available allows farmers not just to benchmark themselves against the average, but also to benchmark U.S. agriculture and demonstrate how efficient we are."

Again that’s Iowa Nitrogen Initiative co-founder, Dr. Mike Castellano.