The Economics of Agronomics When Commodity Prices Are Low

Farming is never easy and some years are especially challenging.

When lower commodity prices combine with higher input costs to put pressure on row crop and specialty crop growers, mastering the economics of agronomics requires careful planning. Fine-tuning a crop fertility program is one of the best ways to optimize profit.

Add Value, Avoid Complexity

When margins are tight, the fertilizer with the lowest price per pound can look attractive. But taking the time to research product options is worth it to understand the true cost and potential return. Industry innovation has led to more efficient technologies and products, allowing for lower application rates. Evaluating fertilizer on the cost per acre provides a better analysis of the value than simply gauging price per pound. For instance, ICL’s Agrolution pHLow® 11-45-11 is a water-soluble fertilizer that can be used at a lower rate than many other forms of phosphorus. That often translates to the same or lower cost per acre and with increased yield potential.

Consider ways to “trade up” to products that offer a better return for the investment. Polysulphate® is an excellent source of potassium and sulfur, which improves nitrogen use efficiency. Applying a portion of a field’s potassium needs in the form of Polysulphate® can help to reduce overall costs.

Choose products that can be easily integrated into existing practices, like highly compatible foliars or fertigation solutions. A product can have great performance, but if it must be applied at a specific time that doesn’t coincide with anything else being applied, or isn’t compatible with other products, it adds time and expense that might not pay off.

Set Out To Succeed

It’s never too early to start thinking about the season-long management plan for a crop. We all know that so much can change during the growing season, but establishing a plan in advance gives you an advantage. Start with foundational practices – such as in-furrow starter fertilizer or seed treatment – to establish yield potential and profitability potential for the crop.

Later in the season, there’s still an opportunity to change direction about the best product or approach, such as foliar application or other options, based on the condition of the crop, commodity prices, and weather.

More Than One Way To Make A Profit

Agriculture has become incredibly efficient at increasing yields. Over time, we’ve seen crop yields continue to increase with relatively steady levels of input for key nutrients like nitrogen. Now, we have a new challenge: how far can we go to become more productive using fewer nutrients?

Farmers can use many tools to fine-tune their systems and avoid over-applying fertilizer. Through innovation, we continue to make agronomy more efficient so we can maximize the output per unit of input. Biologicals and biostimulants are products that work in tandem with fertilizers to make nutrients more available to the plant and less likely to be lost. They can be a very cost-effective way to improve productivity per unit of input of nutrients.

When corn is $7 a bushel and soybeans are $15 a bushel, it can be fun to experiment with new biologicals, biostimulants, and other additives. But in today’s economic climate, it’s best to rely on replicated trials and develop a good understanding of how these products work and where they are most effective. This ensures you can achieve a level of confidence in the product. Check out the BIOZ® trials for more information on our biostimulants and enhanced nutrient fertilizers.

ICL’s goal is to offer specialty fertilizers that provide both agronomic performance and economic value, so whether commodity prices are high or commodity prices are low, the products have a compelling ROI potential. Working together, we can fine-tune crop nutrition to maximize profit when every dollar matters.