Fertilizer is expensive, but cutting rates might prove more costly.
Rigas Karamanos of Westco Fertilizers in Calgary says it was only two years ago that 50 cent per pound nitrogen costs and $6 per bushel canola made cutting nitrogen rates the right thing to do.
However, with canola now selling for $12 per bu., he said producers should try to maximize their yields by increasing nitrogen rates.
John Mayko of the Canola Council of Canada said even with nitrogen costing 60 cents per lb., adding an additional 20 lb. to a crop will cost the producer a bu.of canola and likely deliver yields far in excess of a bu.
Read Also
VIDEO: Green Lightning and Nytro Ag win sustainability innovation award
Nytro Ag Corp and Green Lightning recieved an innovation award at Ag in Motion 2025 for the Green Lightning Nitrogen Machine, which converts atmospheric nitrogen into a plant-usable form.
Phosphorus, which has risen in price much more than nitrogen, may be a different story.
Garry Hnatowich of Novozymes said growers who have been regularly applying phosphorus may have an alternative.
Phosphorus solubilizing bacteria, which is contained in the product Jumpstart, can replace some of the expensive phosphorus that is critical to crop development, provided phosphorus is already in the soil.
“If you have been adding phosphate regularly then Jumpstart is a way to draw on that money, I mean P, you already have banked in the field,” he told an agronomy meeting earlier this year.
In small seeded crops such as canola, where the seed can only support plant growth for a few days, Jumpstart makes phosphorus readily available in that critical period from germination to the four leaf stage.
Jumpstart is most effective when soil tests call for adding more than 15 lb. of phosphorus per acre.
Mayko also recommended adding sulfur in the form of ammonium sulfate at 15 to 20 lb. per acre if the soil is deficient or uneven.
Agronomists say a soil test is still the best way to ensure fertilizer investments are appropriate.
