None of the researchers expect a $4-per-acre profit to persuade producers to switch to sensor-controlled nitrogen application. That's because there are inconveniences involved, the biggest centering on timing.

Many producers like to apply nitrogen fertilizer on empty fields in the fall, when they aren't so busy and when they won't knock down any corn. But applying in the fall creates the most waste, as autumn rains drain off nitrogen before the next crop gets planted. That's bad news for the corn, the environment and for producers' bottom lines.

Using sensors, on the other hand, requires producers to side-dress, or put the fertilizer beside the growing plants. That means fertilizing in the spring, a busy time of year, and running the risk of damaging the young corn plants. In the past, the money lost applying nitrogen in the fall was not enough to convince producers to switch to side-dressing. But now, as the cost of petroleum-based nitrogen fertilizers has skyrocketed, producers such as Nuelle may be less reticent about trying something new.

"We've been putting on fertilizer in the fall every year," he says. "Last year I know we lost a lot because of the wet weather in the spring. I just knew I needed to do something different to save money."

Sensor advocates say this is precisely the sort of bottom-line-based decision that should spur more farmer interest in programs to reduce nitrogen waste. Thus have MU and the USDA joined up with the Missouri Farmers Association to drive the message home to other producers. It's a move Nancy Rabalais deems to be of particular relevance for dealing with the dead zone.

"I think that if this mechanism provides a way to reduce the amount of fertilizer applications, then that would be very beneficial," she says. "There is also the need for an educational process concerning the benefits of this type of fertilization."

Already, the MU researchers are making plans to put the sensor equipment on a couple of MFA-dealership rigs. "We'll be to that point maybe by 2007," says Harlan Palm, a research assistant professor of agronomy in MU's College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.

A few years after that, Scharf adds, sensor-controlled nitrogen application could be common.

"It's not too inconvenient, it's really good on the environmental side, and it's OK on the profit side. So I think it will get picked up," he says. "There are many conservation practices that are strictly money out of the farmer's pocket. This is one conservation technology that gives them an economic benefit, too."

Published by the Office of Research.

©2006 Curators of the University of Missouri. Click here to contact the editor.