Growers Do Not Maximize Phosphorus Use

MINNEAPOLIS – Jan 22/04 - SNS -- Crop producers in the United States are not making effective use of phosphorus, with only 40% testing at least half their land on a regular basis to determine phosphorus application levels.

The results were contained in the recently released Phosphorus Utilization Survey, in which 150 corn, wheat, soybean, alfalfa and cotton growers in the United States were surveyed. It turns out 51% believed amending low phosphorus levels to recommended levels in their fields could increase crop yields up to 40%, while 65% conceded that depleted phosphorus levels could limit yields as much as shortages of nitrogen could.

According to Mike Brubaker, a 25-year practicing agronomist and long-standing member of the NAICC, "These practices leave a significant%age of crop fields untested, and thus highly vulnerable. Farmers can't assume that there is adequate phosphorus in the soil, and the only way to know how much phosphorus and other nutrients are in their fields is to engage in a regular soil-testing program."

A regular soil-testing program can be defined as one that provides representative soil test information for each individual field, regardless of field size, every three to four years. Often times this testing will utilize either grid or management zone sampling.

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