2017 Nutrient Management Initiative Results - Southwest/West Central Region

The Nutrient Management Initiative is a simple tool to help evaluate the efficiency of nitrogen fertilizer practices through the use of on-farm trials. The NMI provides direct funding from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) to farmers and crop advisers to support on-farm trials, including nitrogen rate, timing, stabilizer, and source evaluations. In 2017, 115 farmers worked with 31 crop advisers to establish 118 on-farm trials geared towards improving nitrogen use efficiency on their own farms. Since 2015, a total 507 on-farm NMI trials have been completed in Minnesota, 16 trials were in the Southwest, West Central region. The program continues to be competitive, as funding is limited. The program is not able to support the strong demand and growing number of applicants each year.