Getting the biggest bang for your buck is a fun phrase to signify maximizing the value of every dollar spent. We all try to gain the most utility from every hard earned dollar. Farming has many inherent risks that can cause havoc on well-intended plans on investments in crop inputs. Two crop inputs that have been getting a lot of attention from multiple angles are phosphorus and nitrogen. The US EPA has a stated goal of a 45% reduction of phosphorus and nitrate loading in the Gulf of Mexico by 2035 and Illinois has nutrient loss reduction goals of 15% for nitrate and 25% for phosphorus by 2025. These seem like lofty goals that may affect grower's bottom line, but if you dig a little deeper growers may be able to achieve these goals while also increasing profitability. 

Getting the most output for every pound of fertilizer applied to a field is the goal for every grower, especially in times with challenging economic conditions. Some basic practices like grid soil sampling to understand current soil fertility coupled with yield data can help make more effective phosphorus placement and utilization through VRT applications. 

Nitrogen management is a little more complicated.  Understanding your soil organic matter, crop rotation and yield goals are starting points to developing a base nitrogen rate for your field. After that, managing the ability to have nitrogen in the nitrate form when the crop is taking it up is the big trick. Using soil sampling to understand the amounts of both ammonium and nitrate nitrogen in your fields is a great management practice to get a feel for how much nitrogen you have and how much you may need to maximize the yield potential of your crop while limiting the potential for loss. It also allows you to better understand how and if nitrogen stabilizers are helping you manage nitrogen amount and form so your crop can maximize the utilization of your nitrogen investment. In the end, managing phosphorus and nitrogen at a higher level with known best management practices can help you gain more bushels per pound of fertilizer applied and aid in reducing the loss of those same nutrients to help in the achievement of state and national water quality goals. That would be getting the biggest bang for your buck in a big way. Discuss managing crop nutrients with the most current practices available with your local FS crop specialist.

Originally published in the Illinois Farm Bureau's FarmWeek newspaper. Lance Ruppert serves the FS System as GROWMARK director of agronomy marketing. He can be reached at lruppert@growmark.com