The 2004 crop will long remain a painful memory for many prairie farmers.
Spring snow, heavy summer rain and delayed harvest resulted in a challenging and demanding growing season. In some areas, a dry spring and summer drought persisted for another year.
A crop was harvested in all areas, removing large quantities of nutrients from the soil and leaving most provinces deficient in phosphorus and potassium.
A summary of crop removal and fertilizer nutrient addition prepared in 2000 by the Potash and Phosphate Institute shows that the negative balance varied across the prairies.
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When comparing the amount of fertilizer that was applied to the amount of crop that was removed, only Manitoba had a positive balance of four million pounds of P2O5. All other northern plain states and prairie provinces were negative, with Montana at 16 million lb., Alberta at 59 million lb., North Dakota at 86 million lb. and Saskatchewan at 179 million lb.
High soil potassium levels in the region result in an even larger negative balance. Fertilizer less crop removal values for potassium range from a low of 240 million lb. in Manitoba to a high of 582 million in Saskatchewan.
The abundance of plant-available potassium in most Great Plains soil is reflected in the large yields harvested this year with the absence of potassium additions.
Recoverable manure nutrients affect the nutrient balance. Estimated recoverable phosphorus and potassium in manure reduce the negative nutrient balance significantly in certain areas. Specifically, those provinces with large livestock populations have a large amount of recoverable nutrients for land application.
The only problem in using these numbers in a regional balance is that only small areas of land see manure application.
About 4.7 percent of total land in annual crop and fallow receive manure in Alberta and Manitoba, while only 1.4 percent sees manure in Saskatchewan. As a result, these small areas receive lots of nutrients.
Tools are available to calculate farm nutrient balance. Crop removal values for phosphorus and potassium are available on-line for estimating nutrient removal in 2004.
It’s important for producers to calculate these removal values because it gives them insight into what is being removed from their fields and provides information on how their fields are doing relative to a nutrient inputÐremoval balance. Used in combination with a soil test, producers can monitor nutrient status and plan their soil fertility program for 2005.
The nutrient uptake and removal tables are available at www.ppi-ppic.org/ppiweb/canadaw.nsf.
High yields are a result of responsible nutrient management. Balancing phosphorus and potassium inputs and removal, and using a soil test to establish soil nutrient supply levels, form the basis of responsible nutrient management on the farm.
