This increase primarily reflects higher fertilized corn acreage.
Corn is the dominant user of commercial fertilizer, followed by wheat, soybeans and cotton.
Nitrogen use per acre averaged lower on corn and cotton, but higher on fall potatoes, soybeans, and wheat than in 1996. Nitrogen use was about the same, phosphate use was up 1 percent, and potash use was up about 2 percent. This presents only aggregate data by crop. Similar data are available for individual surveyed States . Ground broadcast continued to be the principal method of fertilizer application on the major crops, followed by banding and injection.