News

Agronomist urges caution reading soil tests

An agronomist says the dry field conditions might influence soil test results.

Dan Ritter with Dairyland Seed in Indiana tells Brownfield it will be important to test soil for nutrients so farmers know what fields need and where they can save money, but don’t be surprised if the test results don’t seem right. “One caution this year as you look at soil tests is it’s extremely dry. That can affect your soil test, so if you’re comparing this soil test from three, four, or five years ago, it might not sync up as well.”

Ritter says it’s true that many nutrients might still be available in the soil because of the exceptionally dry soil, but that won’t be true for every field. “We have had tremendous yields so I’m sure we’ve used up some of those nutrients as well. With the lack of moisture, we may have not taken up as much of some of those nutrients as we had thought but however, on the flip side where we’ve had some of those 300-plus bushel plus yields, we’re going to mine an awful lot of those nutrients.”

Ritter says farmers should also take a break after harvest and go over field notes with their crop advisors to make adjustments for the 2025 growing season.