Nebraska corn growers can self-diagnose their current nitrogen management and receive tailored nitrogen management strategies to promote adoption of yield and NUE-enhancing practices. We will give every Nebraska corn grower an opportunity to benchmark their current NUE in corn production using existing NRD databases and to improve it via cost-effective management practices evaluated independently by the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network.
Benchmarking
- Individual farmers can anonymously compare their yield and NUE performance against other farmers located within the similar climate and soil type
- Yield, nitrogen fertilizer, NUE, nitrogen balance, and economic return to applied nitrogen fertilizer are used for comparison
- The dashboard shows changes in metrics over time, which will help document improvements of NUE
Solution
- Once the farmer received the diagnostic summary about current yield, nitrogen balance, and NUE, they will be "guided" by the dashboard toward potential management strategies to improve their current nitrogen management based on the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network
- NUE-enhancing practices follow a "tier-approach" solution model, which we will provide a series of nitrogen management strategies, starting from the simplest to the most complex, that are tailored to the results from the benchmarking analysis and proven success in a particular environment
- All recommendations will be centered on the "4Rs" principles to manage nitrogen: the Right rate, the Right source, the Right placement, and the Right timing
On-Farm Testing
- Farms interested in testing the NUE-enhancing management practice identified for their fields can do it via the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network
- On-Farm strip trials follow a "cropping-system comparison" where the improved management will be compared side-by-side against the farmer's traditional management
- Farmers will get hands-on experience with new technologies to manage nitrogen more efficiently and evaluate how they will work on their operation
FARMER OUTCOMES
- A web-based dashboard that will help Nebraska corn growers to diagnose and improve their corn production NUE while maintaining or increasing current yields
- Access to cost-effective NUE-enhancing management solutions via the Nebraska On-Farm Research Network
- Access to technical support to assist with implementing the next level of nitrogen management
- Monitoring of yield, nitrogen fertilizer, NUE, nitrogen balance, and economic return to applied nitrogen fertilizer
ENVIRONMENTAL OUTCOMES
- Monitoring the potential nitrogen losses associated with each field with an objective, cost-effective and scalable approach: the nitrogen balance, which is calculated as the difference between fertilizer nitrogen inputs and grain nitrogen removal
- Nitrogen balance can help track and report short-term improvements in nitrogen management that cannot be inferred by looking at environmental outcomes, such as water quality.