Agriculture is a traditional business. As an agronomist, convincing a grower to use new fertilization technologies can be challenging.
It is hard for a farmer to assess how a simple thing, such as a single fertilizer application, can increase his profits and boost crop yield. This is mainly because of the price difference between traditional fertilizer and the new nutritional solutions.
Together with Haifa's distributor in Mexico, Ferman, we decided to take the trial to the field and test it on one of Mexico's top crops, which is corn, in Jalisco area where throughout the summer there is rain and the crop is not irrigated.
Method:
We tested the difference between PCU (polymer coated Urea) and non-treated urea.
Between PCU and Urea there is another stage: treated urea (Urease and/or Nitrification inhibitors).
We included this type in the trial as a medium step (in both technology and price terms)
The farmer's method is to apply traditional NPK mix as base dressing, and later another 2 applications of Urea during the season (T1), as the rain washes most the nitrogen to groundwater.
The treated urea (T2) treatment was with 3 applications and with reduction of fertilization (82% of N from T1).
The CoteN™ Mix, made by Ferman, the "Fermix-corn", has 35% of the Nitrogen protected as CoteN. This enabled us to reduce application rate to 70% of the Nitrogen given by the farmer's method (T1), in one Single application (T3). This is the power of Controlled release fertilizer compared to Slow release fertilizer - maximizing the nutrient use efficiency.
With better nutrient use efficiency , there is lower N leaching to ground water, less groundwater contamination, and most importantly – similar or better yield, as you see for yourself in this case.
