NCR-103

North Central Regional 
Research Committee Information Exchange

Project: NCR-103

Title: Specialized Soil Amendments and Products, Growth Stimulants and Soil Fertility Management Programs.

Duration: October 1, 2002 through September 30, 2007

Justification: It is important in agriculture to maintain productivity and profitability while reducing nutrient and other inputs for both economic and environmental reasons. There is a large research base available evaluating the success of reducing nutrient inputs from traditional fertilizer amendments and the environmental impacts of these reductions. However, non-conventional/non-traditional products for agriculture, including soil amendments, growth stimulants, or soil fertility management programs are currently being promoted and sold on the claim of replacing or extending the efficacy of standard crop production inputs. Many of these products have not been evaluated in scientific studies in soils or climates similar to those of the North Central region. For producers to make rational choices in regards to these products, they must have access to a source that provides fair and scientifically valid evaluations of these specialized products or soil fertility management programs.

Numerous field trials have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of various products, but have not been published in the scientific literature, and therefore are not available to farmers and farm educators. Members of the NCR-103 Committee have collected these reports and summarized them in the “Compendium of Research Reports on Non-Conventional Products”, first published in 1982. Two supplements to this volume have also been published. Criteria were established regarding reports to be published, requiring replication, statistical analysis, minimum site years of data etc, which must be met before an article/report will currently be included. Thus, the committee provides a source of relevant, scientifically based information to colleagues in the North Central region who in turn share this information with farmers.

Many of these products are expensive to use and are often marketed under different names in different states. The names of the products may also be changed frequently as manufacturer or marketing agents change. NCR-103 has functioned as a repository for the collection, and subsequent dissemination, of information about the active ingredients for products or programs, the name of the company that manufactures or markets it and research, if any, which has been done on the product. This annotated “Product List” now includes over 400 products or programs, and was updated in 2001.

Specialized agricultural products must be registered and/or licensed for sale in most North Central states. Research information provided by the NCR-103 committee or individual members has been used by state regulatory officials in determining if a product has value and should be licensed.

NCR-103 must also be concerned with non-traditional fertilizer management programs, which promote the addition of micro-nutrients, adjustments to base saturation rations, and the use of biological innoculants, growth regulators or seed treatments that claim to maintain or increase crop yields. Many of these non-traditional programs appear to be scientific and may have a scientific basis. However, other programs, recommendations, products and procedures are either not based on, or contrary to, current scientific knowledge. Crop producers need to be aware of the “pseudo-science” found in some of these fertility management programs.

Past fertilization practices have produced high soil test phosphorus and potassium in many of the soils of the North Central region. In some cases, optimum yields can be maintained for several years with little or no phosphorus or potassium fertilization. Producers are particularly vulnerable to claims that certain fertilizer products applied at very low rate, or biological innoculant or management systems will enhance or unlock the nutrients in their soil, making fertilization unnecessary, when in fact no fertilizers would normally be needed.

As an attempt to address these concerns and eliminate confusion among farmers, NCR-103 has published the following publications:

• NCR-168 (revised), Biological Inoculants and Activators: Their Value to Agriculture
• NCR-190, Wetting Agents: Their Use in Crop Production
• NCR-295, Soil Conditioners
• NCR-303, Plant growth Regulators: Their Use in Crop Production
• NCR-341, Effectiveness of Using Low Rates of Plant Nutrients
• NCR-533, Soil Cation Ratios for crop Production
• NCR-343, Impact of “ACA” on Crop Yield in the North Central Region (1999)
• NCR-337, Crop Responses to Amisorb in the North Central Region (2001)

Others will be developed and published as needed.

Goals and Objectives: The goal of NCR-103 is to continue to identify and report on the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness in non-conventional/nontraditional products, soil amendments, growth regulators and soil fertility programs. A better awareness and understanding of these programs, together with access to scientific evaluations of these inputs, will help farmers compete in an increasingly competitive and regulated environment in production agriculture.

Specific Objectives:

1. Provide unbiased evaluations, as resources permit, of specialized soil amendments, products and growth stimulants as they appear for sale in the North Central Region, and where appropriate publish the results of those evaluations as a North Central Regional Research Bulletin.
2. Collect information on and evaluate to the extent possible, non-traditional soil fertility management programs. This information will be transferred to extension personnel to distribute as needed to the appropriate clientele.
3. Develop new and revise current publications which relate to the use of non-traditional products, programs or waste materials (excluding animal manures and municipal sludges) that are being promoted for use on agricultural lands.
4. Continue to collect research reports for updating The Compendium of Research Reports.
5. Collect new labels and advertising materials to expand the “product list”.
6. Develop a NCR-103 web page which will include the history of the committee, Product List, the revised Compendium and criteria for including a report, and links to all published Regional bulletins.

Accomplishments of the previous four years:

See Appendix 1.

Expected Outcomes and Impacts:

It is anticipated that NCR 103 will continue to provide unbiased, scientifically based information to farmers, extension educators and others on the use of non-traditional/non-conventional soil amendments and products. The addition of a web-site should enhance the availability of this information to the public. Access to this information can easily result in the savings of thousands of dollars annually to individual farmers across the region.

Current Membership:

Bob Hoeft, Univ. of Illinois George Rehm, Univ. of Minnesota
Sylvie Brouder, Purdue Univ. Richard Ferguson, Univ. of Nebraska
John Sawyer, Iowa State Univ. Dave Franzen, North Dakota State Univ.
Ray Lamond, Kansas State Univ. Ed Lentz, The Ohio State Univ.
Daryll Warncke, Michigan State Univ. Jim Gerwing, South Dakota State Univ.
Peter Scharf, University of Missouri Keith Kelling, Univ. of Wisconsin
Dave Mengel, Admin. Advisor Ray Knighton, CSREES

Governance: Standard

Submitted by: Dave Franzen, NCR 103 Chairman
and Dave Mengel, 2001 NCR 103 Administrative Advisor

Appendix 1.
Accomplishments of NCR-103
October 1, 1998 to September 30, 2002

Since the last renewal, NCR-103 has:

• Published NCR-343, Impact of ACA on Crop Yield in the North Central Region
• Published NCR-347, Crop Responses to Amisorb in the North Central Region
• Updated and distributed the “Product List”
• Initiated construction of a web page for dissemination of NCR-103 information to a broader audience.
• Began the process of reviewing all articles in the “Compendium” and “supplements”, to ensure they meet current criteria for inclusion, in preparation for publishing an updated version in 2002-3.
• Continued the process of collecting research reports, product labels and other information regarding non-traditional/non-conventional products.