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who grows corn without using NH3?
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pat-michigan
Posted 2/24/2021 12:10 (#8855225 - in reply to #8848286)
Subject: RE: who grows corn without using NH3?


Thumb of Michigan
Not sure where the closest NH3 to me is to be honest. Haven't seen a NH3 tank in a feild in many years.

It was touched on already, but I'll reiterate. Friend was working with a dealer in Indiana. In the 80's sometime, they were doing some various side by side plots with different forms of N. I haven't seen the results in years, but I do recall the take home point they found. That was that they were getting a yield response just dragging a knife through corn at side dress time. The perceived difference in yield response between different forms of N- all else being as equal as possible- got way closer when they simply stuck a knife in the ground and stirred it up a little.

As far as cost goes- and this is coming from my experience as a dealer in another life- fall NH3 is the best thing for the dealer. Not necessarily the customer. There is NOTHING good that happens to any form of N between fall and when the next crop actually needs it. The downside is all weather dependent, but no matter. Theres no upside to fall apps other than its out of the way for the dealer, and the farmer. The dealer gets to roll inventory one more time.

Which leads to the next point: comparing fall N price of NH3 compared to spring priced N of any other source isn't a real good comparison. In fact, its no comparison. There may or may not in fact be a spread in cost per actual pound of N, but they need to be compared at the same time. NH3 carries a lot of expense with it, freight being one of those things. We happen to be able to get liquid and dry N delivered a couple different ways here, and consequently it negates much of the cost difference. Then, get a quote on building a NH3 facility on farm vs installing liquid or dry storage. Next is insurance. Ask your insurance agent how much it costs to insure an on farm NH3 storage facility, how much to insure an approved liquid storage system, and how much to insure an approved dry N facility. Reason I bring it up is that a very large % of the N used here is stored on farm. Filled in the period from fall until frost laws on the road hit. I only am aware of one on farm setup for NH3 within 50 miles. I would take both hands to count how many liquid tank facilities there are in my township alone. Take both hands and my feet to count the dry on farm storage facilities.

There are many people who like to talk about how much $ they feel they make on grain bins. Fair enough- but theres been more than one year where our on farm fertilizer storage netted us more money than our grain bins did.

Edited by pat-michigan 2/24/2021 12:14
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