2009 Survey of Nitrogen Fertilizer Use on Corn in Minnesota: A companion report to the full report prepared by the University of Minnesota Extension

A survey was conducted in the spring of 2010 to characterize the use of nitrogen (N) fertilizer on field corn by Minnesota farmers in the 2009 growing season. Detailed information on N fertilizer management practices was collected from interviews with 1,496 farmers distributed across all of the corn growing regions in the state. Their total corn acreage represented about 7% of the corn acres harvested in Minnesota in 2009. Farmers were asked to give detailed nitrogen information on one of their typical corn fields. Farm interviews were completed by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, Minnesota Field Office and an initial report was written by the University of Minnesota which can be found at: http://www.mda.state.mn.us/protecting/cleanwaterfund/~/media/C0D97703C7A84E74936431110A5FE897.ashx This is a companion report that further expands on nitrogen fertilizer rates across different crop rotations and includes ranges of nitrogen fertilizer applied across those crop rotations. Crop rotations will include corn following soybeans, corn following corn, corn following alfalfa and corn following other crops. Fields that were not fertilized with commercial fertilizer are not included in this report. Minnesota Nitrogen Best Management Practices have been developed on a regional basis as shown in the following chart (figure 1). Crop rotations and nitrogen rate ranges will also be compared on a regional basis.