Make Informed Fertilizer Decisions With The Prairie Nutrient Removal Calculator
Nutrient management stays top of mind for growers year-round—application in the spring and fall, analyzing what’s working in-season, and preparing for the next year in the fall with review of the previous crop, soil tests and 4R planning for the next crop. Accounting for nutrients removed from soil in harvested crops is an essential part of beginning the next season’s nutrient management planning, and has been made easier for Prairie growers through the online Prairie Nutrient Removal Calculator developed by researchers at the University of Saskatchewan.
Launched in 2023, the Prairie Nutrient Removal Calculator uses data collected from 2020-2022 in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba to estimate nutrient requirements of key crops grown across Western Canada and provide nutrient removal rates. Lyle Cowell, Senior Agronomist at Nutrien, worked with the University of Saskatchewan soil scientists to contribute on-farm data from Saskatchewan and Alberta for the development of the calculator.
An article by the University of Saskatchewan expands on the data used to build the calculator: “To measure nutrient uptake, grain samples were collected at harvest. The grain was dried, ground and analyzed for nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur (macronutrients) as well as copper, boron, and zinc (micronutrients). Field data was also collected such as land location, yield and fertilizer application rates. Over 2000 grain samples were collected to represent geographical production of each crop – most corn samples were from Manitoba, canola samples largely from the northern grain belt and chickpea from the southern prairies.”
Nutrient balance in field crop production must measure the rate of application by fertilizers and manures, the bank of nutrients in the soil measured by soil tests and the rate of nutrient removal by grain which this project has provided. The Prairie Nutrient Removal Calculator is a very important tool to help make informed fertilizer decisions each year. Try the Prairie Nutrient Removal Calculator.
