Robert Mullen
Robert Mullen
Robert Mullen was a Democratic state senator. On November 3, 1868, he was elected member of the Nevada Senate, representing Nye County. Mullen's term started the next day and he served in two regular sessions until the next election in November 1872...
cliff
We may be going over the cliff if we don't do something.
accept boils economic exercise farmers gives high increasing lower potential range rate risk side single system uses willing work
It boils down to an exercise in risk management. The old system uses a single value, while this new system gives farmers a range to work with. If farmers are risk averse, they can use the high side of the rate range. If they are more willing to accept risk, they can use a lower side of the rate range, increasing their potential for economic reward.
achieve amount corn demand greater higher intuitive maximum needed nitrogen potential rate relationship result reveals several strong studies translate yields
It is intuitive that higher corn yields will result in greater nitrogen demand from the soil, but does that translate into higher nitrogen demand? Investigation of nitrogen rate studies conducted over several years reveals that there is not a strong relationship between maximum yield potential and the amount of nitrogen needed to achieve maximum yield.
adopt assessment available dollars federal fertility improving indication indirect optical plants soil supporting technology using
Optical sensors are an indirect assessment of soil fertility because it is using plants to give an indication of how well that soil is supporting the crop. There is also a wildcard in this technology with making recommendations and improving efficiency. And that's if there will be federal dollars available for growers to adopt it.
across assume available avoided current entirely four growing level nitrogen none optical potential produces results similar soil support throughout uniformity using vary year yield
Current nitrogen recommendations assume four things: yield potential doesn't vary year after year, the yield level the soil will support without supplemental nitrogen is negligible, pre-plant nitrogen will be available throughout the growing season, and soil uniformity produces similar yield results across the field. Growers know that none of these assumptions are entirely accurate, and they can potentially be avoided using optical sensors.
basis central farmers generating moving nitrogen north percent region similar toward understand value
Farmers may not yet be 100 percent comfortable with the changes, but they understand why it's being done and can see the value in it. All land-grant universities in the North Central region are moving toward a similar basis for generating nitrogen recommendations.
acre amount benefit determine economical gain impossible level longer maximum nitrogen per point rate reach reached research shoot shown trial yield
Is it always economical to shoot for maximum yield? Research has shown that it's not. It may take the same amount of nitrogen to reach 179 bushels per acre as it does to only reach 170 bushels per acre. It's impossible to determine at what point the nitrogen level is reached to where it is no longer a benefit to gain more yield without a nitrogen rate trial in every field.
cover crop determines nitrogen successful
Additionally, how successful a cover crop is established also determines how much nitrogen is captured.
case cheap costs crop dictate effective excess nitrogen potential treated yield
So, utilizing yield potential to dictate nitrogen recommendations may not be the most effective method, especially when nitrogen costs are high. Historically, we've treated excess nitrogen as cheap crop insurance. While it was then, that's not the case anymore.
adding assumes available blank dependent devoid exactly less medium natural nitrogen problem reason release run soil system
One reason is that the system assumes the soil is a blank medium and devoid of natural nitrogen. We know that's not true. And the problem we run into is that we don't know exactly how much nitrogen is in the soil and how much will be available to the crop. The release of nitrogen is dependent on the weather, so there's always a possibility of adding more or less nitrogen to the soil than is needed.
applied becoming crop current economic efficiency elsewhere estimated majority methods nitrogen penalty suggesting top
Nitrogen efficiency in crop production, such as corn, is estimated to be only about 33 percent, suggesting that under current nitrogen recommendation methods the majority of nitrogen applied is going elsewhere other than into the crop. On top of that, it's becoming more of an economic penalty to over-apply nitrogen.