IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/haaewp/337140.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Using On-farm Precision Experimentation Data to Analyse Maximum Return to Nitrogen (MRTN) Recommendations

Author

Listed:
  • Gong, Aolin
  • Mieno, Taro
  • Bullock, David S.

Abstract

Alternative derivatives of the original yield-goal based recommendations have been employed by researchers, outreach personnel, and private-sector crop management consultants to direct farmers. Current research indicates, however, that the original yield-goal-based method used scant data, questionable data omissions, and flawed statistical analysis. Maximum Return to Nitrogen (MRTN) recommendation is the first publicly available nitrogen recommendation tool to consider economic outcome when recommending nitrogen application rate. However, MRTN adoption is low; farmers may still be following retailer recommendations or prior experience, in part because the nitrogen application rate suggested by the MRTN system is relatively low. This study aims to determine the efficiency of the MRTN recommendations in directing nitrogen application rates in the corn belt. Between 2016 and 2021, forty-two on-farm precision experiments were conducted in Illinois and Ohio to determine the ex-post economically optimal nitrogen rate (EONR), which are used here to evaluate MRTN rates. MRTN rates are compared to the current rates of farmers to determine which achieves relatively high profit margins. Findings suggest that MRTN recommendations can be excessively high or inadequately low across fields in the same region and during the same year. Additionally, grower chosen rates performed better than MRTN on some fields in some regions. Thus, adopting the MRTN recommendation appears riskier than developers claimed.

Suggested Citation

  • Gong, Aolin & Mieno, Taro & Bullock, David S., 2022. "Using On-farm Precision Experimentation Data to Analyse Maximum Return to Nitrogen (MRTN) Recommendations," Land, Farm & Agribusiness Management Department 337140, Harper Adams University, Land, Farm & Agribusiness Management Department.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:haaewp:337140
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.337140
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/337140/files/Using%20on-farm%20precision%20experimentation%20data%20to%20analyse%20maximum%20return%20to%20nitrogen%20%28MRTN%29%20recommendations.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.337140?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mark A. Sutton & Oene Oenema & Jan Willem Erisman & Adrian Leip & Hans van Grinsven & Wilfried Winiwarter, 2011. "Too much of a good thing," Nature, Nature, vol. 472(7342), pages 159-161, April.
    2. Sellars, Sarah C. & Schnitkey, Gary D. & Gentry, Laura F. & Paulson, Nick, 2021. "Illinois Farmers' Beliefs about the Maximum Return to Nitrogen (MRTN) Recommendation," 2021 Annual Meeting, August 1-3, Austin, Texas 312780, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gong, Aolin & Mieno, Taro & Bullock, David S., 2022. "Using On-farm Precision Experimentation Data to Analyse Maximum Return to Nitrogen (MRTN) Recommendations," Agri-Tech Economics Papers 337140, Harper Adams University, Land, Farm & Agribusiness Management Department.
    2. Meyer-Aurich, Andreas & Karatay, Yusuf Nadi, 2019. "Effects of uncertainty and farmers' risk aversion on optimal N fertilizer supply in wheat production in Germany," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 130-139.
    3. Simon Anastasiadis & Marie-Laure Nauleau & Suzi Kerr & Tim Cox & Kit Rutherford, 2011. "Does Complex Hydrology Require Complex Water Quality Policy? NManager Simulations for Lake Rotorua," Working Papers 11_14, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research.
    4. Ledgard, Stewart F. & Wei, Sha & Wang, Xiaoqin & Falconer, Shelley & Zhang, Nannan & Zhang, Xiying & Ma, Lin, 2019. "Nitrogen and carbon footprints of dairy farm systems in China and New Zealand, as influenced by productivity, feed sources and mitigations," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 155-163.
    5. Charné Viljoen & Janke van der Colf & Pieter Andreas Swanepoel, 2020. "Benefits Are Limited with High Nitrogen Fertiliser Rates in Kikuyu-Ryegrass Pasture Systems," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-20, May.
    6. Cathal Buckley & Paul Murphy & David Wall, 2013. "Farm-gate N and P balances and use efficiencies across specialist dairy farms in the Republic Ireland," Working Papers 1302, Rural Economy and Development Programme,Teagasc.
    7. Andreas Meyer-Aurich & Jørgen Olesen & Annette Prochnow & Reiner Brunsch, 2013. "Greenhouse gas mitigation with scarce land: The potential contribution of increased nitrogen input," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 18(7), pages 921-932, October.
    8. Yusuf Nadi Karatay & Andreas Meyer-Aurich, 2018. "A Model Approach for Yield-Zone-Specific Cost Estimation of Greenhouse Gas Mitigation by Nitrogen Fertilizer Reduction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Cecilia Bellora & Élodie Blanc & Jean-Marc Bourgeon & Eric Strobl, 2018. "Estimating the Impact of Crop Diversity on Agricultural Productivity in South Africa," NBER Chapters, in: Agricultural Productivity and Producer Behavior, pages 185-215, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Ahmmed Md Motasim & Abd Wahid Samsuri & Arina Shairah Abdul Sukor & Amin Mohd Adibah, 2021. "Gaseous Nitrogen Losses from Tropical Soils with Liquid or Granular Urea Fertilizer Application," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-11, March.
    11. Sandra Lage & Zivan Gojkovic & Christiane Funk & Francesco G. Gentili, 2018. "Algal Biomass from Wastewater and Flue Gases as a Source of Bioenergy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-30, March.
    12. Zehui Liu & Harald E. Rieder & Christian Schmidt & Monika Mayer & Yixin Guo & Wilfried Winiwarter & Lin Zhang, 2023. "Optimal reactive nitrogen control pathways identified for cost-effective PM2.5 mitigation in Europe," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    13. Castro Campos, Bente & Petrick, Martin, 2020. "Agricultural Land Use, Local Political Power, and Groundwater Nitrate Contamination in Germany," 60th Annual Conference, Halle/ Saale, Germany, September 23-25, 2020 305583, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    14. Koesling, Matthias & Hansen, Sissel & Bleken, Marina Azzaroli, 2017. "Variations in nitrogen utilisation on conventional and organic dairy farms in Norway," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 11-21.
    15. Simon Anastasiadis & Suzi Kerr & Marie-Laure Nauleau & Tim Cox & Kit Rutherford, 2014. "Does complex hydrology require complex water quality policy?," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 58(1), pages 130-145, January.
    16. Buckley, Cathal & Hynes, Stephen & Mechan, Sarah, 2012. "Operating or not Operating at the Margin: Farmers Willingness to Adopt a Riparian Buffer Zone," Working Papers 148830, National University of Ireland, Galway, Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit.
    17. Xuege Wang & Fengqin Yan & Yinwei Zeng & Ming Chen & Bin He & Lu Kang & Fenzhen Su, 2021. "Ecosystem Services Changes on Farmland in Response to Urbanization in the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area of China," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-16, May.
    18. Andreas Meyer-Aurich & Yusuf Nadi Karatay, 2022. "Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Costs of Reduced Nitrogen Fertilizer," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-13, September.
    19. Tzemi, Domna & Breen, James, 2019. "Reducing greenhouse gas emissions through the use of urease inhibitors: A farm level analysis," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 394(C), pages 18-26.
    20. Xi, Xuan & Zhang, Yulin, 2021. "Complexity analysis of production, fertilizer-saving level, and emission reduction efforts decisions in a two-parallel agricultural product supply chain," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:haaewp:337140. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dlhauuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.