The trend in fertilizer application today is to go larger to cover more acreage, provide more flexibility of applications and be more precise, according to manufacturers interviewed at the 2010 Farm Progress Show.

“Everybody’s demanding wider, faster, higher-rate kind of stuff,” says Nick Jensen, president of Thurston Mfg. Co., the manufacturers of Blu-Jet fertilizer toolbars. The company’s new AT6020 60-foot applicator comes equipped with the HDI ammonia delivery system with a double-piston John Blue anhydrous ammonia pump and single heat exchanger that handles 20,000 pounds per hour.

“That system allows us to build toolbars at wider widths and run at faster speeds and that’s what customers are demanding,” Jensen adds.

Bill Preller, director of sales and marketing for Case IH, says they launched the new Nutri-Placer 940 to meet the demands of twin market segments — the custom applicator and the large-acreage farmer, both of whom need to get across a lot of acres.

“If you are a custom applicator, you need high-grade, commercial-grade application equipment because you get paid by the acreage,” Preller says. “If you’re a large farmer and you’re really not interested in getting the local toolbar out of a rental fleet and having to fix somebody else’s problem, you have the same issue. You have a certain number of acres you’ve got to get across in a season.

“So we’re seeing this trend toward higher-acreage, higher-duty cycles and heavier-built construction.”

Not only is the ruggedness and size of the toolbar important, but the timing of the…