As nitorgen (N) prices continue to soar, a panel of experts from the agriscience company Corteva recommend a few tips to help manage nitrogen carefully.

During an hour-long session at the 2022 Commodity Classic, Brent Wilson, the company’s resource planning and analysis manager, Bob Gunzenhauser, a manager of agronomy science at the Corteva-owned Granular precision farming company, and field scientist Mike Moechnig fielded questions from producers about managing applications for the rapidly pricier macronutrient.

The three discussed how the company attacks N planning on multiple fronts, and fielded questions from attendees about the status of the industry.

Homogenous Hybrids

While nitrogen uptake can be a concern while selecting what hybrid varieties to plant in your field, it shouldn’t be the top concern, Wilson says.

“I would love to be able to stand up in front of you and say there’s really significant differences that we can chase down and I have the recipe for how to manage each individual hybrid,” he says. “Unfortunately, we can’t find the data that really sustains that. And we’ve been trying.

“Each time that we try and chase this, we end up not finding significant differences with N rate or N timing on a product-by-product or hybrid-by-hybrid basis,” Wilson adds.

Instead, farmers should take heart that a successful N program for their property is likely to succeed regardless.

“The genetics seems to be a very small part of that whole variable response that we potentially see to nitrogen,” Wilson says. “You can build a nitrogen…