Wheat growers discovered the benefits of Haifa's coated Urea: less labor, less leaching and a peace of mind – even when heavy rains fall
I recently joined Yishai Wachsmann, one of Haifa Israel agronomists, to visit wheat growers who used Multicote™ Agri Coated Urea for the first time.
** Standard Urea vs. Coated Urea **
We started at Beit Hananya, a moshav in Northern Israel, where 300 hectare of wheat is grown.
Prior to using our controlled release fertilizers, the growers used to spread the Urea on top of the field several times during the season. Once realizing that with Multicote™ Agri they can make do with one application only, they made all the weed control treatments at a very early stage.
We saw some signs of excess water, a reminder of the heavy rains that poured down a couple of weeks beforehand. After digging with my fingers below the plants, I took some Multicote™ Agri granules and squeezed them – there were still plenty of nutrients inside to keep feeding the plants. While the rain washed off all the uncoated Urea, the coated one was still there.
The grower asked if applying the fertilizer in a row, below the seeds, is a good method of application. "The best there is", I replied.
** Tailor-made blends to suit the crop's needs **
Our next stop was at Binyamina, located in the Haifa district. The local grower showed us the hi-end German seeding machine that applies the fertilizer in the row while seeding.
This grower has 200 hectares of wheat divided into small fields. For him, applying fertilizer by several applications is a serious headache, so the Multicote™ Agri is a great solution. He also told us about a grower who applied uncoated Urea just before the big storm, so it all ran-off quickly. That grower had to spray Urea by airplanes, while all of these additional expenses were spared if he was using Multicote™ Agri.
At the end of the visit the farmer asked if it's possible to add some MAP in the blend for next year. As we always recommend having soil analysis results prior to building a fertilization plan, we asked to wait for the results, but surely we can customize a blend to suit the crop's requirements.
** One Application – Many Advantages **
To summarize the long day, these are the advantages of Haifa's Multicote™ Agri:
• Fertilize & Forget: the farmer isn't bothered with multiple fertilizer applications. He needs to apply the fertilizer just once.
• Saves labor, fuel and engine hours of the tractors. Multicote™ Agri is applied at seeding, with the same machine.
• Reduced leaching of nutrients into groundwater, even when heavy rains fall.
• Less nitrogen is applied in comparison with standard fertilizers, thus reducing the environmental impact and making it easier to comply with environmental regulations.
***
