Alternative fertilizers focus on feeding soil biology
The fertilizer that south-central Nebraska farmer Jordan Uldrich is applying to his fields this year is unconventional – one is derived from squid protein – and they’re meant to feed crops a bit differently, too.
Uldrich, who focuses on improving soil health, is aiming to feed the microbes and organisms that make up the soil biology. By pumping up the soil biology, it forces the crop to communicate with the soil to get the nutrition it needs. That’s opposed to feeding it synthetic fertilizer that the plant can latch onto without interacting with the soil.
“It doesn’t associate with anything else because it doesn’t need to,” Uldrich said. “If you can get your soil to be as active as it can possibly be, the plants will basically harvest the nutrients off the biology.”
Ultimately, it works out to appl fertilizer at a lower rate, Uldrich said. One key to using fertilizer in this way, though, is to grow corn hybrids that are more biologically active. Uldrich had to research which hybrids would and would not associate with the soil biology.
The fertilizer that south-central Nebraska farmer Jordan Uldrich is applying to his fields this year is unconventional – one is derived from squid protein – and they’re meant to feed crops a bit differently, too.
Uldrich, who focuses on improving soil health, is aiming to feed the microbes and organisms that make up the soil biology. By pumping up the soil biology, it forces the crop to communicate with the soil to get the nutrition it needs. That’s opposed to feeding it synthetic fertilizer that the plant can latch onto without interacting with the soil.
“It doesn’t associate with anything else because it doesn’t need to,” Uldrich said. “If you can get your soil to be as active as it can possibly be, the plants will basically harvest the nutrients off the biology.”
Ultimately, it works out to appl fertilizer at a lower rate, Uldrich said. One key to using fertilizer in this way, though, is to grow corn hybrids that are more biologically active. Uldrich had to research which hybrids would and would not associate with the soil biology.
Jordan Uldrich is a fifth generation on his Fillmore County farm, working with his dad and brother to raise conventional corn, soybeans, milo and rye and a small beef herd. He has adopted regenerative practices, including interseeding cover crops and rotational grazing. Jordan is a board member and has one of the demonstration-education sites for the Nebraska Soil Health Coalition.
Uldrich will check how effective his fertilizer is from space. Satellites from Sentinel Ag will send images of his fields using NDVI, normalized difference vegetation index, to give a reading on how green the crop is and, essentially, how healthy the plants are. Uldrich said he’s confident in the technology after using it last year.
“We were actually able to see one of our foliar applications respond through the satellite technology,” he said.
Some larger operations in his neighborhood started planting during the warm days in mid-April. He was hoping for rain in the forecast to materialize this week before rolling out the planter.
Uldrich lamented how dry it is. While some areas along the Kansas border south of him received three nights of soaking rain, he got none.
He’d also like to see freezing temperatures disappear from the forecast before planting.
“In years we got in early and had a cold snap, it just really seemed to hinder the crop,” Uldrich said.
Cover crop termination is another consideration at planting time. In his dryland fields near Milligan, rye planted into corn stubble had growth of about six inches. He planned to terminate that in the next week before planting. Growth was only a few inches on rye cover crop in soybean stubble near his dad’s home base, however. He suspects an herbicide used on the soybeans stunted the growth.
Still, cows and their young calves were finding enough to graze.
“Everybody is happy now, eating something green,” Uldrich said.
In the coming weeks, he’ll be applying his own seed treatments and starting to plug away at planting with his eight-row, 50-year-old planter. He wishes everyone safety in their planting work and reminds them to make time to spend with family during this busy season.
