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Carson Continued
Applying the right amount of N
One area where Carson has made significant progress is managing nitrogen levels on his fields from year to year. He’s the first to admit that nitrogen is extremely difficult to apply accurately and evenly.
“For example,” he says, “we would apply 100obs of NH3 at 6 mph based on a given tank pressure. You might start the day at 40 degrees and have 50obs of pressure to apply 100 lbs. The temperature goes up, and it’s 70 degrees and the tank pressure rises to 100 lbs. If you haven’t changed the settings, you’re putting on too much ‘N’.”
“We also found out that we were overapplying N in a lot of places and underapplying it in others. In some areas instead of going 6 mph we went 5 mph and 100 lbs. became 117 lbs. Then there were places where the draft was less and instead of going 5 mph we were going 7.5, so that cut the 100 lbs. down to 75 lbs.,” he notes.
To apply nitrogen more accurately, Carson now uses an “accuflow” variable rate system that converts anhydrous ammonia gas to a liquid and meters it.
He also switched from his initial grid program to management zones, which helps save soil sampling costs. “Grid sampling is a good idea to get a baseline, but once you have that you can refine it. Everybody jumps on the grid sampling bandwagon as the cure all. What makes you think soil fertility is going to change in little squares? It doesn’t.”
Sky’s the limit with satellite imaging
With the help of American Crystal Sugar and North Dakota State University (NDSU), Carson progressed through a number of steps to increase recoverable sugar and bring fertilization, especially nitrogen levels, into correct balance.
Carson asked NDSU to help solve the chronically low sugar content. They began by dividing Carson’s grid-sampled fields into smaller half-acre grids. Then they conducted extensive soil testing to 6 feet, took tissue samples, and analyzed yield. All the testing was done using DGPS to insure accuracy in subsequent years.
“Finally, NDSU took a satellite image of the beet fields, and you could pick out the deep green tops,” Carson explains. “NDSU made a correlation that the deep green, lush tops showed exactly wh4ere the nitrogen was the heaviest.”
NDSU verified these findings by analyzing and measuring beet tops, which had as much as 400 lbs. of N per acre to carryover to wheat.
Using FIELDSTAR Office Package software, Carson overlaid the satellite imagery of his fields with his ½-care zone maps. He then ran the computer and found that he could apply 34% less N in the field being analyzed. “I took the data from that field and satellite imagery from other wheat fields and applied the same zoning techniques and VRT (variable rate technology) to other fields. The data told us that in certain places we could cut N by as much as 70 lbs.,” Carson states. “That’s a significant savings.”
After adjusting nitrogen applications to his VRT maps, Carson plants his wheat crop and then harvests it using the FIELDSTAR yield monitor in his combine. This verifies the changes he has made. “when we overlay the yield map with the N map, the results are amazing,” he explains. “In places where we had cut N by up to 100 lbs. there was no difference in yield.”
Through Precision Agriculture, Carson had unlocked a crop rotation secret – the nitrogen carryover effect from one crop to the next. “We’re saving N costs,” he says, “and our wheat yield is going up.:
According to Carson, where is a rotation crop many Red River Valley growers plan to keep soil from blowing away. “Often we lose money on it,” he comments. “So now we’re going from a rotational crop that keeps the ground from blowing away to actually making money on it.”
Carson advises producers to think in terms of the big picture when applying Precision Agriculture techniques. “For example,” he says, “we saved a total of $270 in nitrogen through variable rate application the first year, and a total of $661 the next year on one 80-acre field. In the following crop, sugar beets, we improved yield by 2.1 tons/acre and quality by 1%. The total net effect on that field was $13,034.36 in increased net profit.”
Carson has consistently increased sugar beet tonnage and recoverable sugar. On one field, he increased output from 16.7 to 20,8 tons per acre, plus sugar content jumped from 16.38 to 18.19%. He grossed 15% higher than the weigh station average. For every 1% difference in sugar content his payment per ton increased by about $4.50
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Hurtt Equipment, Inc | Highway 18 South | Hoople, ND 58243
Ph: (701) 894-6363 | Fax: (701) 894-6579