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Anhydrous ammonia remains a top choice for fall fertilizer

An extension nutrient management specialist says anhydrous ammonia remains one of the best options for fall fertilizer.

Daniel Kaiser with the University of Minnesota tells Brownfield some farmers are shifting toward fall urea.

“We’re just getting a lot more issues with that particular product when it comes to some of the loss potential, so it’s really sticking with the anhydrous ammonia (and) trying to make sure that the application is at a point where the soils have cooled enough where we’re not going to see a lot of nitrate accumulation.”                            

He says in some cases a nitrification inhibitor might be necessary.

“So really looking at it in terms of the economics, I mean really looking at some of the numbers right now I haven’t seen a whole lot of shift. And if you look at kind of where we’re at now versus a year ago with some of the nitrogen prices, I think that’s going to be kind of the thing that growers are going to be looking at.”

Kaiser says anhydrous ammonia appears to have a better return on investment compared to ammonium phosphate fertilizers DAP and MAP based on current prices.