They also show how nitrogen price influences profitability at various application rates. Based on the above results, if you're paying 24 cents per pound for nitrogen, you're losing money at 190 pounds per acre, and breaking even at 160 pounds. But you're gaining a lot with the first 120 pounds per acre. Mike Rankin, extension crops and soils agent for Fond du Lac County, has developed a downloadable Excel spreadsheet to calculate economic returns from nitrogen applications. The spreadsheet is based on nitrogen response rates for major Wisconsin soil groups.
Users can select nitrogen and corn prices of interest and see their effects on economic return.
Go here . Management can help to minimize nitrogen losses, Bundy notes. Corn following alfalfa usually doesn't need added nitrogen. And don't forget to credit manure and legume nitrogen from previous seasons.