Focus on These Two Things, Cut Costs Elsewhere

Chad Lee, Extension Agronomist, University of Kentucky

Farmers are looking where to cut production budgets for 2015. Three of my colleagues and I were honored to speak at the National Commodity Classic this year. During our presentation, one of my colleagues closed out our session by saying that the two things farmers need to do is: 1) use appropriate soil-applied fertilizers based on soil tests; and 2) use highly effective weed control, which probably includes a soil residual herbicide. All of us in the room agreed that these are probably the two things many farmers will cut in 2015.

Which Fertilizer Recommendation is Best?

Lloyd Murdock, Extension Soil Scientist, University of Kentucky

There are two concepts for making fertilizer recommendations. Both take the same soil test but they usually result in two very different fertilizer recommendations. One is the Sufficiency concept and the other is the Cation Saturation Ratio (CSR).

The Sufficiency concept is based on local or regional research on similar soil types that find a level of each plant nutrient resulting in maximum yield. When a soil test is below this Sufficiency level, crops respond to the addition of the nutrients.

The CSR was developed in the 1940’s to create an ideal balance of calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and potassium (K) that would result in maximum crop yields.