Comprehensive Nitrogen Management for Crop Health and Reporting

Organic nitrogen management is particularly challenging because nitrogen from organic sources such as compost, soil organic matter, cover crops, crop residues, and soil amendments must be converted by microbes to a plant-available form. Matching plant-available nitrogen to crop demand is necessary in order to provide sufficient nitrogen for optimal yields, while reducing the risk of environmental pollution. Furthermore, nitrogen-reporting requirements call for information on plant-available nitrogen, as opposed to total nitrogen applied. As a group, we will complete a comprehensive nitrogen budget, through which you will be given guidelines and calculations for estimating plant-available N. This will be directly translatable for use with your own compost, soil report results, amendments, etc.