Nitrogen Fixation: New Opportunities & Potential Contributions to your Cropping System Nitrogen Budget & Fertilizer Needs
Would you like to produce 15% more corn with 30% less nitrogen fertilizer? In the upper Midwest, that is the average difference in grain yield and optimum nitrogen fertilizer rate between corn following corn and corn following soybeans. Where does this yield and nitrogen come from? The soybean nitrogen credit? We will explore the source of the soybean nitrogen credit and opportunities for biological fixation of atmospheric nitrogen to contribute to your nitrogen needs.
Speaker
Mike Castellano
Mike Castellano is Professor of Agronomy and William T. Frankenberger Professor of Soil Science at Iowa State University where he founded and leads the Iowa Nitrogen Initiative (INI). His work integrates plant and soil sciences – and strong partnerships with farmers – to improve cropping systems performance. A range of stakeholders engage Mike to advance sustainable crop production: his research has led to several public-private-partnerships for the benefit of agriculture and the environment, and he has testified on these issues at the Iowa Legislature and United States Senate. He currently serves as the US representative to the United Nations Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils.