N-WATCH is a soil sampling management tool designed to help retailers and their farmer customers inventory, track and verify plant-available nitrogen in the soil at a specific point in the field.  With funding provided by the Nutrient Research & Education Council (NREC), our industry has been utilizing N-WATCH since the fall of 2012, and it has been instrumental in providing a sound assessment of when fall applied ammonia converts to nitrate, as well as nitrate movement and uptake by the crop following nitrogen applications and throughout the growing season.  After harvest in 2014, N-WATCH showed very little residual N in the soil which verified that nitrogen utilization was terrific in 2014 and the nutrients were used by the crop; therefore nutrient losses to water were also greatly minimized.  Although funding for 100% of the cost of an N-WATCH site is no longer available, if your ag retail location is interested in participating in N-WATCH, please contact IFCA.    

 

N-WATCH has a new website this year that allows you to register your company to use the program and obtain the necessary sampling kits; IFCA can assist you with that process.  There are several N-WATCH program options, ranging from $300 up to $650.  This year, NREC is also funding a new research project with University of Illinois Crop Sciences in which Dr. Nafziger is evaluating N-WATCH findings in order to determine if soil N levels and weather data can be used to predict soil N content, and by subtraction, N loss. Participants in the N-WATCH program this year will be asked to give permission for their results to be used in Dr. Nafziger's study to further the scientific basis for nitrogen recommendations in Illinois.  Again, if you wish to participate in N-WATCH please call IFCA, we can explain the program in more detail and help determine the best options for you to participate.