Is variable rate fertilizer application worth the money?

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**** is that’s it

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What type of cost are we talking in VRF? What situation does it shine? What does the process look like?

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You may not save on fertilizer but where it shines is you will be putting more fertilizer where it can be used more to the plant.  Custom combining I seen a 30 bushel yield difference on the same farm.  It's what got me interested.  So I tried it this year.  I saw a 10 bushel difference in wheat.  If your scared of the cost NRCS CSP or EQIP each have a progr to help with costs to get started.

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In the light rolling irrigated soils of Southwest MI it is not uncommon to see 100 bushel yield variance in any given pass. Seed and N definitely pay here.

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On my clay low Organic matter soils it makes a tremendous difference. The poorer the soil the bigger response you get. All soil types have a different P and K supply and need to be fertilized differently.

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YES! Why wouldnt you use todays technology to use obtainable yield goals instead of one blanket shot across the field?   I have been doing it for 20 years plus.  I use SMS software and my yield maps to create my own variable rate prescriptions, and then apply with my air cart and strip till machine.  I do use grid sampling only on my fields where we apply manure, very important as they vary in fertility greatly and so we must adjust for that.  I know how well it works for sure, as I share crop, some of my acres, and I get to benchmark my yields vs the many this farm manager does in our area, with many other farmer operators. Also through the FBN analytics and benchmarking.

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It would be great if fbn came up with a verable rate system at a reasonable price using yeild maps

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work with your fertilizer man you can take advantage of certain situations..... i bought a small farm several years ago late, like april 1st, got it grid mapped,  looking at the maps i figured out the lime map and the phosphorus map were almost identical and the potash, zinc, and sulfur were very close, so we used the potash map and blended in zinc and sulfur in the front box on spreader, and used the phos map and added pel lime in the back  to start correcting this farm from year one.

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If you're changing your fert from field to field there's no reason not to do it from acre to acre.   The same with seeding rate.

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We’ve done it for years. We sample and get an rx and then don’t sample again for 3 years. My issue is what about those areas that are said to be high on the soil sample. They get nothing and by year three they are probably way too low.  I haven’t done the research on this but I’ve always wondered if this happened.

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I tried it for 3 years,  grid sampled plus variable rated all fertility applications,  I did not see a measurable difference on 6000 acres.  Bottom line...not worth the money or hassle.

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We did 5 acre grids with variable rate on the P and K. As far as the N goes for corn I apply that at a flat rate. I found that using composite samples we were putting on a lot of un needed phos

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There needs to be a good agronomic reason and philosophy otherwise you can precisely misapply every acre.

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Does FBN have a soil sampling partner for grid samples

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You cannot mine a high fertility area in 3 yrs.

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I have done 2 1/2 acre grids for around 15 years now, did a gradual build on areas that were low. Applied needed fertilizer plus 10% build on low areas so it didnt cost much more. End up with total cost approximately the same on whole field, but applied where its needed most plus built it up over years. Very satisfied with end results. If you are spending the money, put it where you need it. I do another soul sample grid every 5 years or so.

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You guys are too hooked on grid sampling for prescription variable rate. We use yield maps, soil maps and satellite to make prescription variable rate fertilizer maps. Cost is a $300 unlock for trimble, a son's college education and support.   After a few years you just tweak your maps.

variable rate is simply a redistribution of fertilizer and we use a base rate and after all is said and done well be back to about 95-105* of base rate. Productivity has risen by some times 20 bpa over all time best. It helps you get to the next level.

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Is variable rate fertilizer application worth the money?

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