In the last 15 years, if the corn price has gone up, fertilizer prices have gone up. If the corn price has gone down, fertilizer prices have gone down. If corn (and other commodities) remain much lower than they were last spring, I would be shocked if fertilizer prices don’t come down significantly. While I could be wrong, this is how fertilizer has tracked for well over a decade, so I’m guessing either fertilizer is going down this fall or next spring OR commodity prices are going up.

How many tests have you run on your farm to determine the right rate of N, P, K, S, Mn, B, Cu, Fe, or Zn? On our farm, we’ve now run well over 10,000! Sound crazy? Here’s how we’ve done it. Since 2018, we’ve been soil testing using GPS points. While I prefer one-acre grids so you get more data and find the variability in each of your fields at least once in your farming career, it ultimately doesn’t matter whether you use grids or zones or how big those grids or zones are. The key is to pick a GPS point. Go right to that point. Pull 8 to 12 soil cores within a 5-foot (or maybe 10-foot) radius around that point. Then, compare that soil test data to the yield data at that same GPS point. If you do this across your farm, you will be able to chart out every nutrient and every nutrient ratio so you can determine the appropriate soil test level that makes money. For example, when we first started this I thought that roughly 4% base saturation potassium was merely important. As soon as I saw our data, I realized it was absolutely critical, as none of our good yields on corn came where soil test levels were 3% or below. NONE. Rather than listening to any other “expert” or salesperson out there about fertility, get your own data. While we’ve done this analysis manually in the past, we now use the VRAFY software to do it automatically.

If you don’t soil test, how do you apply fertilizer? Here’s how most people do it. They pick a yield goal and then fertilize to that goal. That sounds reasonable, but if your yield goal is 200-bushel corn and over the last two years you’ve had spots in that field that yielded 250, you’d be falling behind in those spots. On the other hand – and here’s where cutting comes in – if you’ve had some issues with your stand, lodging, flooding, etc. that hurt your yield and areas were only 100 or 150, why in the world would you put on a full rate of fertilizer? With the VRAFY program, a variable rate fertilizer application map can be automatically created based off your yield map. Almost as soon as you leave the field with your combine and your harvest map is uploaded to the cloud – or at least within 24 hours – a variable rate fertilizer application map will be sent to you, and this can be easily uploaded in a variety of formats to your fertilizer applicator. Imagine not needing to go to a fertilizer dealer for a recommendation. You can now work with any fertilizer company because the data and the control is finally in your hands. Also, if you prefer to use last year’s data or a combination of the last two years (if you fertilize every other year on your farm), those things can be easily and inexpensively done, as well, as this costs just $1 per acre through VRAFY.

Dry potash often takes two to three years to fully break down and become available in many soils, especially if the weather is cold and dry. If you broadcast phosphorus or potassium, it could be years before your crop roots find ALL of the nutrients you applied. I’m not saying to skip the potash or to avoid applying either P or K. What I’m saying is if you own the ground and are focused on the long-term, potash and broadcasting are great. If you need quick uptake on fertility and/or your soil tests are low to even medium, I would at least consider banding and the use of some liquid fertilizer. Every year on every field, we use low rates of low-salt liquid. It’s readily available, and when we band it, plant roots will absolutely run into it fairly early in the season, meaning uptake is almost assured. Banding and the use of liquid provide a quicker ROI than broadcasting and using dry, but both can be implemented on any farm and any field.