November 1, 2011

Agronomist Notes

We’ve had an incredible stretch of weather this fall and snow is likely right around the corner. I may or may not have fall clean up completed, depending on whether you ask my wife. November is a busy month for me with farm shows and conferences. AgriTrade is next week in Red Deer which is always a good time to catch up with colleagues and clients.

On the agronomy front, soil test results continue to show below average at 15 to 25 lbs N in the top 24 inches. I’m starting my grid soil sampling this week as well as continuing my own benchmark sampling. The ground is extremely dry and we’ll need some significant moisture before seeding.

In this issue we’ll look at the economics of building your own liquid urea plant. Next, we’ll look at a deep ripping success story and look at the risks, tips and tricks of deep ripping. Last, I’ll review the nutrient uptake and removal charts for wheat, barley and canola to help you understand just how much nutrient supply our target yields need. We’ll finish with technical and fundamental grain market news.

Have a great week.

Agronomy

Running the numbers on an on-farm liquid urea plant

I recently visited a farm in the area who built an on-farm liquid urea plant to help reduce the costs of applying liquid nitrogen. The system was built by Mountainview Colony who dribble-band nitrogen in cereals to reduce the risk of leaching in their sandy soils. After spending copious amount of money on UAN (28-0-0-0) and the logistics and storage that comes along with liquid fertilizer, they decided to build their own liquid urea plant. Today, we’ll run the numbers to see what the breakeven cost of building your own set up would be.

Liquid UAN as a product is 50% urea, 25% ammonium and 25% nitrate. So, when you buy UAN you’re effectively buying a product that contains 50% urea. Liquid urea carries the risk of volatilization much like UAN if you spray it on the soil surface with heavy residue or high pH, or during dry weather, you stand to lose a certain percentage. It can also scorch leaves if applied at too heavy a rate and during high daytime temperatures. The three main uses for liquid urea would be to reduce leaching, increase tillering or protein in wheat late in the growing season. One final reason to use liquid urea is because it’s not caustic like most liquid fertilizers. It doesn’t corrode metal like liquid UAN.

The picture you see at the top is a 45 tonne epoxy coated urea storage bin which augers directly into the 10,000 Imp. gallon poly water tank which sits atop four load cells. The middle photo shows the natural gas powered steam boiler that heats the steam up to 400 degrees Celsius which blows into the water tank to agitate and warm the water to help dissolve the urea. The water, urea auger and steam boiler are all controlled from an electrical panel in the scale house. The finished liquid urea solution is pumped into the 20,000 gallon stainless steel storage tank you see in the middle photo.

The process works like this: 1) Water tank is filled to one third while the steamer is warming the water. The urea is then augured in at a rate of 39,000 lbs per 10,000 Imp. gallon batch. Water weighs 10 lbs/Imp. gal so you multiply 10,000 gal × 10 lbs/gal × 18% ÷ 46% to get the total amount of urea need per batch. The urea is circulated and dissolved within roughly 30 minutes per batch in this urea plant. The product is ready when it hits a specific gravity of roughly 1120. You can find one of these specific gravity kits at a wine store. Like a fine vintage, making liquid urea is an art. Each person will make their own tweaks to their urea plant to optimize the results. The reason 18% nitrogen is applied to the solution is because that is all that can be held in suspension. Solids start dropping out of suspension and plugging filters if the solution nears 20%.

So does it make economical sense to make your own liquid urea? Let’s do a little Steve’s quick math to find out. Fertilizer prices are based on current quotes. Application of 20 lbs/N/ac as a dribble band is fairly common as a top dress in our area.

Steve’s quick math

UAN: $0.70 lb/N
Urea: $0.62 lb/N
Application rates: 20 lbs/N/ac
Savings over UAN: 20 lbs/N/ac × ($0.70 lb/N/UAN - $0.62 lb/N/Urea) = $1.60/ac
Cost of urea plant: $18,000
Breakeven: $18,000 ÷ $1.60 = 11,250 acres

Making your own urea in this scenario would allow you to save $0.08 cents per lb of nitrogen. At a 20 lb/N/ac top dress rate you would need to cover 11,250 acres to breakeven in year one. You can amortize the cost of the urea plant over ten five or ten years if you like. Urea is a non-caustic substance so metal fittings and parts don’t corrode. Some urea plant owners have had their plants for 25 years with only motors being replaced over time.

Does it make sense? I know my overseas farmer friends use liquid urea successfully to boost protein in wheat at watery dough stage and bump yield in canola by applying it early pod stage. You can read articles from previous issues about liquid urea here http://www.beyondagronomy.com/newsletter/4_8_2010.htm
and here http://www.beyondagronomy.com/newsletter/10_11_2009.htm
Perhaps your own urea plant does make sense. SL

Deep ripping shows results

The application of deep ripping has caught on in many regions throughout the Prairies. Deep ripping is costly and time consuming but when it works, it pays back dividends quickly. The trick is finding out whether or not your soils respond favourably to recover the cost.

I had a chat (via Twitter) with Gary Sanocki, a farmer up in the Peace area of Eaglesham, AB. He said he’s had mixed results but shared some pictures of the success he had with peas after using the AgrowPlow.

Gary farms grey wooded soils with approximately 5 inches of top soil with clay subsoil. The compacted layer sits about 9 inches deep so they plowed down 12 or 13 inches in the fall of 2010. It cost between $16.00 and $20.00 an acre in fuel alone. Wow!

The pea crop you see in the bottom photo shows the line where he dipped ripped on the left and where his check strip was on the right. In the deep ripped areas the peas fell over which isn’t cool but they were yielding 10-15 bu/ac higher. Excessive rains in June/July waterlogged the soil and the peas didn’t fill well in the non-ripped area and therefore stayed standing. At this fall’s price of $7.50 to $8.50 bu on peas the deep ripping broke even on the first year.

If you plan on deep ripping this fall here are the costs, risks and tips:

Cost of subsoiler like AgroPlow:
Rental: $20.00-$25.00/ac
Tractor: $28.00/ac (8 ac/hr at $225/hr)
Labour: $20.00-$22.00/hr
Total: $68.00-$75.00/ac

Timing & Tips

Ideally rip in the fall, post-harvest in light soil frost conditions, under moderately dry conditions
Settling effect over winter improves the seedbed condition and firmness for planting
Heavy harrowing or landrolling immediately after will improve seedbed and prevent moisture loss from early fall treatments

Risks

Slow process at 5-12 acres per hour
Expensive, upfront investment
Results are not always immediate or significant
Compaction reintroduction, especially during spring work on wet, fractured soil

Benefits

Improved water and oxygen storage
Root proliferation
Reduced nitrogen loss, no surface ponding
Improved nitrogen use efficiency,

To conclude, deep ripping has had some real successes as well as some non-responses. It’s a lot of money to sink into a practice at $68.00 to $75.00 per acre which may or may not pay back. The best option is to rent one and do strip trials across select fields to see if your soils do respond. One thing I struggle with in deep ripping is the fact that we’re driving across 50% of our fields each year in a direct seeding system. So, you alleviate compaction one year by deep ripping only to drive across and pack nearly 100% of the field within two years. How long will the $70.00 ac treatment last? Who knows? When you see quick returns on investment like Gary saw with his peas, it certainly makes you take a second look. SL

Source: www.agrowplow.com, Kelly Boles, Center Field Solutions

The short and sweet on nutrient uptake requirements

I’m sure by now most of you have recovered from the sticker shock of buying fertilizer for the 2012 growing season. I thought I would put together a summary table of the uptake and removal rates of wheat, barley and canola at specific yield targets. I’ve left the uptake and removal rates on the table so you can plug in your own numbers to see your own nutrient needs. I’d be happy to email you this spreadsheet if you’d find it useful. Just email me your request. steve@beyondagronomy.com