NREC Needs Your Help to Update Soil Fertility Recommendations
With funding from the Nutrient Research & Education Council (NREC), the Univesrity of Illinois is re-evaluating how much nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) are contained in harvested grain of corn, soybean, and wheat. The University of Illinois Dept of Crop Sciences is seeking help from our industry to provide grain samples from the 2015 harvest. They ask that only one sample be taken from a given field.
Here’s how this works:
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Before, during, or (for stored grain) after harvest, send an email to NPKremoval@gmail.com to request a mailer. The email only needs to list the cooperator’s name, mailing address, and how many samples of what grain (wheat, corn, or soybean) are being collected. If the mailing address is in a different county than the field the sample comes from, please indicate what county the sample(s) will be from.
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We will immediately send pre-paid mailers to the cooperator. The mailer will include plastic sample bags each with a label containing the cooperator’s name (optional for those who want to receive results) and county. It will have a blank to fill in the yield level (estimated or measured) of the field, but that will be optional this year.
- The sample bag is sized to hold about 6-8 oz. of grain, which is all we need. The grain should be dry (at or close to standard moisture) so it keeps well during shipping. Put the bag with grain into the mailer and drop it into the US mail. It will be addressed to go to the UI and we’ll get samples analyzed.
Elevators are a place where samples can be gathered efficiently. If you represent an elevator you can let UI know how many corn samples you will be able to collect. With corn maturing rapidly early in September this year, some probe samples should come in dry enough to send, though they may need drying if they’re above 16-17%.
Please email Dr. Emerson Nafziger at ednaf@illinois.edu if you have any questions about the process. This is a vital NREC project to update the state's recommendations on soil fertility and demonstrate our continued leadership on nutrient utilization. Thank you!