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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Vegetable production costs soaring
  • Date: Wed, 21 Feb 2007 20:37:43 -0700


Interesting statistics, but they're recommending a bandaid for a
hemorrhage.

paul tradingpost@lobo.net
------------------------------------------

Vegetable production costs soaring
http://southeastfarmpress.com/vegetables-tobacco/021607-vegetable-costs/
Feb 16, 2007 10:22 AM, By Roy Roberson
Farm Press Editorial Staff

Managing fertilizer costs can be the difference in profit and loss in any
crop. The high cost of all fertilizers, especially nitrogen, is a critical
production expense for all farmers, but can be especially important to high
value, high input vegetable crops.

Several factors have combined to create the upward spiral in the cost of
nitrogen and other crop nutrients. Ammonia is a common component of most
fertilizers. It takes 32 million cubic feet of natural gas to produce one
ton of ammonia.

Only three percent of natural gas supplies is used to produce ammonia, so
the fertilizer industry has virtually no impact on the price of natural
gas, according to Roger Teal, public service assistant and horticulturist
at the University of Georgia.

The price of anhydrous ammonia has increased from 12 cents to 31 cents per
ton of nitrogen. Among the more popular forms of nitrogen, ammonium nitrate
has increased from 26 to 45 cents per ton of nitrogen and urea from 22 to
39 cents per ton. Ammonia is a common component of these and other forms of
nitrogen fertilizer.

Ammonia production in the U.S. has dropped more than 25 percent in the past
12-15 years, despite a worldwide increase in demand of 13 percent over the
past five years. Worldwide nitrogen use is up 10 percent, phosphorus use is
up 13 percent and potash use is up 25 percent in the past five years.

In cereal grain production during 2005, it is estimated 3.3 billion tons
was applied in corn. It is well documented that corn only uses about 33
percent of the nitrogen applied. Based on total nitrogen use, U.S. corn
farmers lost $2.6 billion in material lost to the atmosphere.

Considering most vegetable crops require higher rates of nitrogen than
corn, it is reasonable to assume the cost per acre lost to the atmosphere
is higher in vegetable crops.

The combination of higher production costs, lower domestic production, and
increased world demand has placed U.S. farmers in a bad situation. The
solution, Teal contends, is based on three basic principles:

• Use the proper application equipment and be sure that it is calibrated
accurately.

• Use the best source of nitrogen, not the traditional or favorite
source.

• Use the correct rate, not the broadcast rate that covers all soil
conditions.

“You cannot see over-use of nitrogen. It is easy to look at a field and
know when too little is used, but too much is a different story,” Teal
says. Knowing exactly how much nitrogen and other fertilizer is needed by
the crop and applying them in the right amounts and at the right time can
be the difference in profit and loss in vegetable production.

Nitrogen (N) is an important element for economic vegetable production, and
is especially required for successful production on sandy Southeastern
soils characteristic of the Coastal Plain. Sandy soils typically have low
organic matter and retain little nitrogen against leaching.

Intense rainfall, or excessive irrigation water, can leach nitrogen from
the root zone and potentially into groundwater. Nitrogen management
strategies should be used on vegetable farms to maximize the chances that
nitrogen fertilizer will benefit crop yields and fruit quality, while
minimizing the chances it will be lost to the environment.

Water management is another critical component of nitrogen management on
vegetable farms in the Southeast. Regardless of the form or source of
nitrogen fertilizer, the end-product, in a few days to a few weeks, is the
nitrate ion, which easily leaches in sandy soils.

Several production practices can help vegetable growers incorporate good
water management into good nitrogen management strategies. These include:

• Using polyethylene mulch where practical, and applying nitrogen in the
root zone under the mulch.

• Scheduling nitrogen applications to coincide with crop need and
avoiding large applications at any given time, part of which might be
leached before being utilized by the crop.

• Avoiding the application of fertilizer or nitrogen-containing organic
materials, such as sludge or manure, to farm roads, field alleys, row
middles or other areas not planted to vegetables.

• Avoid over-use of nitrogen fertilizers to minimize the chances of large
residues being left in the field at seasons end.

One application technique is pre-plant banding to improve efficiency.
Though banding has been used for many years to apply phophorus and potash,
Teal says recent studies indicate banding nitrogen on some crops may be the
most efficient way to maximize plant utilization and reduce total usage.

In some crops foliar application has proven the most efficient. Teal says
not enough information is available to recommend foliar application of
nitrogen on vegetables, but it is one area of research he will be
investigating. Regardless of the crop or the fertilizer used, surface
broadcast is the least efficient, Teal adds.

In tests on bell peppers at two sites in south Georgia in 2006, Teals says
there was little variation in yield from any of four sources (two ammonia
and two nitrate) of nitrogen when used at comparable rates.

He points out that the cost of nitrogen by source is different. If the more
expensive forms are used in pepper production, some growers are paying too
much for nitrogen.

A critical factor for vegetable growers to consider is that nitrogen
response fluctuates, and it fluctuates separately from yield. The soil gets
nitrogen from rainfall and other natural sources, so a critical measure of
how much nitrogen to use is based on what is available in the field before
the crop is planted.

High tech equipment, like chlorophyll sensors, can be used to determine
precise rates of nitrogen needed and used by a crop. Likewise, low tech
practices, like planting test strips based on yield potential of a crop,
can be used. Regardless of how a grower determines rate, form and
application method, getting it right will save huge amounts of money in
vegetable production.






  • [Livingontheland] Vegetable production costs soaring, TradingPostPaul, 02/21/2007

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