On-Farm Tracking of Nitrogen Transformations to Improve Farm Profitability and Environmental Quality

IFCA’s “Keep it 4R Crop” program links university research with on-farm practices to improve Illinois’ nitrogen rate recommendation system and demystify the movement of nitrogen in the soil throughout the growing season. Working with farmers and their ag retailer/adviser, we identify fields for Nitrogen Rate Trials using University of Illinois protocols, and also sites for N-WATCH™ soil nitrate tracking. In many cases, these fields are located in watersheds that have a surface water supply that is also the community water supply. The goal of these nitrogen rate trials and N-WATCH sites is to provide these individual farmers, in their individual fields, a reliable, defensible method in which to support their nitrogen rate decisions. On a larger scale, the nitrogen rate trials are used to update the MRTN calculator and the N-WATCH sites are used to determine the amount of applied N that has converted from ammonium to nitrate. In the late fall of 2015 and into the winter and early spring of 2016, the N-WATCH sites were used to evaluate possible N losses from fall applications following the warmer than normal soil temperatures in that time period. The information gained from N-WATCH is shared with farmers and crop advisers by way of the University of Illinois bulletins and IFCA communications, and this information is also shared with water supplies and other organizations, including environmental groups. These programs help assure that science, not assumptions, is the basis for nutrient management and nutrient policy in Illinois.