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. Chemigation was used on about 47 percent of the potato area, similar to 1996. Soil tested for fertilizer needs ranged from 88 percent of acres for fall potatoes to 28 percent for all wheat. The major factor decreasing nutrient use was lower fertilized wheat acreage, which uses about 14 percent of all fertilizer. Nitrogen and phosphate application rates on wheat were about the same in 1998 as in 1997, but potash application rates were less.