Nutrient stewardship: A key to profitable crop nutrition

Dana Hite

(Photo by Catrina Rawson)

One key factor to ensuring greater profitability on your farm is to increase the overall management of crop nutrients utilizing 4R Nutrient Stewardship principles that focus on the Right Source, the Right Rate, the Right Place and the Right Time.

When nutrient recommen-dations and applications are managed using 4R principles, nutrient uptake can be optimized, nutrient loss and environmental impact can be minimized, crop yields can be maximized and greater profitability can be realized. These factors can be achieved in a variety of ways including:

Below are a few key points that you should be aware of related to specific nutrient sources (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium):

Nitrogen is susceptible to loss by one more of the following four main factors:

Best management practices to minimize nitrogen nutrient loss include the following:

Phosphorus losses occur in a few major manners:

Best management practices to avoid phosphorus loss may include:

Potential losses of applied potassium may occur because of:

Best management practices related to maintaining good potassium fertility include:

Formulating and utilizing nutrient management plans on your farm increases the opportunity for optimal crop nutrient utilization, maximum crop yield and minimal environmental impact.

For more information on designing and implementing a nutrient management plan on your farm using the 4R principles of nutrient management, talk with your local FS crop specialist today.

Dana Hite serves as a strategic agronomy marketing manager for GROWMARK.

Dana Hite