Alternative fertiliser application methods

Brad Bernhard was born and raised on his family’s hog and grain farm in northern Illinois. We were introduced to him via a fascinating webinar that included the benefits of applying liquid fertiliser to create high N concentration directly in the plant’s rooting zone.

Brad earned his Master’s degree under the advisement of Dr. Fred Below in the Crop Physiology Laboratory studying the use of innovated foliar micronutrient sources in high yielding corn and soybean production systems.

Recently, Brad completed his Ph.D. degree in Crop Sciences focusing on in-season fertility using different fertilizer sources and application methods. In addition, he investigated ways to manage higher corn planting densities using narrower row spacings along with characterizing hybrids for use in these more intensive cropping systems.

We think this approach has great potential for a wider range of crops, including winter vegetables, but have no doubts that it is not a case of a simple switch. We asked Brad to join speakers at LandWISE 2019 to share his experiences and (perhaps) warn us of some of the fishhooks he encountered along the way.