IFCA retail survey tracks fertilizer management

PEORIA, Ill. — Results of the third annual Illinois Ag Retail Survey found conservation practices are gradually increasing across the Prairie State.

Jason Solberg, Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association interim president, presented the 2024 survey results at the group’s annual conference. Survey data is currently being collected for the 2025 growing season.

A total of 845 fields were surveyed, exceeding the sample size goal of 500 fields. All of the state’s nine crop reporting districts are represented in the survey.

Both small and large farms participated in the survey, with a median field size of 92 acres and the median farm operation at 1,763 acres.

Over 81% of the farmland was in a corn-soybean rotation, 7.8% was a corn-corn-soy rotation, 4.5% was continuous corn and 4.8% was a soybean-wheat-corn rotation.

About Nitrogen

• The state’s corn fertilizer nitrogen, or N, applications averaged 198 pounds per acre in a corn-soybean rotation. The three-year average is 195 pounds. Continuous corn N application rates increased to 219 pounds per acre from 207 pounds in 2023. The rates align with University of Illinois guidelines.

• 16% applied all of the N fertilizer in the fall.

• 25% applied all of the N fertilizer pre-plant in the spring.

• 16% split N with half in the fall and the remaining pre-plant in the spring.

• 15% split N application as spring pre-plant and sidedress.

• Anhydrous ammonia application in the fall was 50%, with 96% use of a nitrification inhibitor in the fall.

About Phosphorous

• Soil sampling to determine phosphorous, or P, levels came in at 78% and commercial P applied was 86%.

• 35% used variable rate technology for P applications.

• 62% apply fertilizer P annually.

• Fertilizer P average rates for monoammonium phosphate, or MAP, and diammonium phosphate, or DAP, were 150 and 161 pounds per acre, respectively, on non-variable rate technology acres.

• This year’s survey results included the application of triple superphosphate, or TSP; MicroEssentials SZ, or MESZ; and MicroEssentials S10, or MES10 — with average fertilizer P rates of 147, 154 and 175 pounds per acre, respectively, on non-VRT acres.

Other Data Collected

• Cover crops were used on 8.7% of the fields in the survey.

• There was no-till on 22.9% of the corn — just over 2.477 million acres included in the survey — and 37.1% on soybeans, nearly 4.006 million acres.

Survey Background

IFCA and the Illinois Council on Best Management Practices developed the Ag Retail Survey in 2021 to collect information on fertilizer practices in Illinois and report agricultural metrics tracked by the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy.

Iowa State University Center for Survey Statistics and Methodology designed the survey, dividing Illinois into nine regions or crop reporting districts with a goal of surveying 500 fields.

“We provide a list of Illinois facilities to Iowa State and they randomly select 150 ag retailers each year to do the survey. They’ve now adapted it so they’re trying not to select the same facility in back-to-back years,” Solberg said.

“We also want to have a minimum of at least one survey done in each of the crop reporting districts based on the protocol, which we have done all three years by a wide margin.”

Funding is currently provided through a grant from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s Gulf Hypoxia Program.

Data collected from the survey is submitted to the Illinois EPA to evaluate agricultural practices throughout the state over time to help track progress toward the long-term goals of the state NLRS that include a 45% reduction in both N and total P loads.

Survey protocols developed and executed ensure all locations, fields and grower information is collected anonymously and selected at random.

The survey is also supported by the Illinois Beef Association, Illinois Certified Crop Advisers, Illinois Corn Growers Association, Illinois Farm Bureau, Illinois Pork Producers Association and Illinois Soybean Association.