Episode 015: Fine-Tuning Fertilizer

Quantifying soil spatial variability doesn't do a farmer any good unless they are able to respond to that variability. Dr. John Fulton, Professor in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering at The Ohio State University, joins the FarmBits Podcast to discuss variable rate application technology and effective input management methods for responding to spatial variability. In this episode, Dr. Fulton covers topics such as input rate algorithms, variable rate map generation processes, matching equipment with application requirements, and impending variable rate application equipment advancements. As the final episode in the "Quantifying and Responding to Soil Spatial Variability" series, this episode synthesizes the information presented in previous episodes with practical implementation information that is critical for optimizing one's response to field variability. "If you're not doing some on-farm research to evaluate your zones and then evaluate your rate, or product, or source that's going to go into that zone, I question how reflective agronomically those prescription maps are, and are they truly profitable for your operation." - Dr. John Fulton "I mean it's one thing to be able to create a prescription map. . . To execute that is a whole different component to the equation. I can create all kinds of maps, and I can even confirm that that map's as good as it's going to be scientifically, but in terms of executing it and having the ability to do that is a whole different component of this." - Dr. John Fulton "The soil is like a sponge. If the sponge is full, and I add another drop of water, that drop of water is either going to have to be absorbed and then put out the other side of that sponge, or it's going to just run off of the sponge." - Dr. John Fulton Ohio State Digital Ag: https://digitalag.osu.edu/home https://digitalag.osu.edu/2020fielddemos 2020 eFields Report: https://issuu.com/efields/docs/efields_2020_final_singles John's Contact Info: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-fulton-0665043/ Twitter: @fultojp OSU Website: https://fabe.osu.edu/our-people/john-fulton FarmBits Team Contact Info: E-Mail: farmbits@unl.edu Twitter: @NEDigitalAg Samantha's Twitter: @SamanthaTeten Jackson's Twitter: @jstansell87 Opinions expressed by the hosts and guests on this podcast are solely their own, and do not reflect the views of Nebraska Extension or the University of Nebraska - Lincoln.