Simplify fertilizer decisions with Nutri-Track

Whether you’ve been farming for one year or for 40 years, inconsistency is the only thing that stays consistent. One year you raise a bin-buster crop, prices are great and the cows stay on your side of the fence. The next year it seems you have no fences, Mother Nature decides to show you who is boss and maybe that grain bin would be better suited for a bin-zebo.

Either way, being a farmer means dealing with these inconsistencies. It comes with the job. If it were easy, then everyone would be doing it.

With 2024 harvest on the downhill slope in MFA’s trade territory, the next step is getting ready for 2025. This year’s harvest is looking pretty successful with good yields being pulled from a lot of fields. The markets may not be where you’d like them to be, and I could say to hang in there, weather the storm and hope they come back to a more favorable level. Or we could talk about how you can continue to produce a good crop and take the fight to the markets rather than sit back and wait for them to come around.

The latter strategy is the focus of this article. Sure, you could try to buy cheaper seed or cut that fungicide pass or skimp on some dry fertilizer. Those actions may work for the short term, but farming full time is more like a marathon than a sprint.

A big crop is going to do a couple of things. It’s going to make harvest more enjoyable (maybe stressful at times), and hopefully provide a little peace of mind with extra yield to market. On the other hand, it definitely is going to remove some nutrients from your soil. In times when the markets are shaky or lower than preferred, you still need to raise a good crop to stay in business. Skimping on plant food for the crop isn’t a good idea. It’s best to focus on increasing production while decreasing the price per bushel produced.

I’m going to use corn an as example, but it would be the same for beans, just different numbers. To keep the math simple, let’s say you average 200 bushels per acre on your farm. That doesn’t mean yielding 200 bushels on every acre. You’ll have areas on the farm producing 100 bushels and some producing 300 bushels to hit that average.

Let’s dive a little deeper. Those areas producing 100 bushels per acre remove 45 pounds of phosphorus (P) and 25 pounds of potassium (K). The areas producing 300 bushels per acre remove 135 pounds of P and 75 pounds of K. On average, the crop is removing 90 pounds of P and 50 pounds of K. That’s a lot of numbers, but bear with me here.

“In this tough farm economy, you don’t want to apply unnecessary nutrients.”

If your plan is to keep it simple and spread an 0-80-80 fertilizer analysis across every acre, look at how that works out mathematically. On the 100-bushel ground, you have applied an extra 35 pounds of P and 55 pounds of K. Now, on the 300 bushel-per-acre areas, you are short 55 pounds of P but applied an extra 5 pounds of K.

If the plan is to maintain that 200-bushel average, you don’t want to be short on any nutrient. In this tough farm economy, you don’t want to apply unnecessary nutrients, either. That’s why you should talk to your MFA precision specialist about Nutri-Track and variable-rate fertilizer.

With Nutri-Track, you can keep it simple while still striving to hit that 200-bushel goal and being as efficient with your fertilizer dollar as possible. The program allows you to apply nutrients at the rate required where they are needed. Even with all the inconsistencies farming brings, your fertility decision doesn’t have to be difficult. With Nutri-Track, you can work together to have a plan in place to make sure you are as efficient as possible and reach your operation’s yield goals.

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