John Breker

Switching More Acres to Soybean?

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The spike in nitrogen fertilizer prices over the past month has prompted many growers to think about switching more acres to soybean in 2026. The high nitrogen fertilizer prices are squeezing the potential profitability of any crop requiring nitrogen fertilizer, such as corn, dry bean, canola, or wheat. The symbiotic nitrogen fixing behavior of soybean is an impressive feat of nature that helps reduce nitrogen fertilizer expenses in farm budgets.

If you do plan to plant more soybean acres in 2026, remember that soybean still has its own crop nutrient needs and removal, like phosphorus and potassium, that cannot be ignored for the soybean crop or across the crop rotation. In addition, iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) is a common problem in soybean fields across the region, and soybean cyst nematode (SCN) can debilitate and cripple soybean yield now and into the future.

Before you plant soybean on any acre, it is important to have current soil test information for IDC and SCN. These two problems are best managed with the right soybean variety, and there is a nice window before spring planting to collect soil samples.

Soybean Fertility (Phosphorus and Potassium)

Soybean does not respond to phosphorus as dramatically as grass crops like corn or wheat do. Nevertheless, medium to high soil test P is required to achieve good soybean yields. Soybean responds to broadcast P placement better than seed-placed P or sideband P. In no-till regions where soybean is often planted with air drills, seed-placed P or sideband P is often the only opportunity to apply phosphorus in the system. You must pay special attention to seed-placed fertilizer safety with soybean.

Soybean removes far more potassium in harvested seed than canola or wheat. Soybean yielding 50 bu/acre removes about 60 lb/acre K2O, while wheat yielding 80 bu/acre removes only 25 lb/acre K2O. Pay close attention to potassium removal across the crop rotation. After soybean is added to the crop rotation, cumulative crop K removal over numerous years increases greatly, and declining soil test K is observed over time.

Do not place potassium fertilizer with soybean seed; delayed seedling emergence and reduced plant population can occur. Any potassium fertilizer should be broadcasted or banded away from seed.

Soybean Iron Deficiency Chlorosis (IDC)

Soybean is very susceptible to iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC). Soybean IDC is not caused by low soil iron but instead by soil conditions that decrease iron availability and uptake by soybean roots. Soybean IDC risk and severity are primarily related to soil carbonate content (calcium carbonate equivalent, CCE) and worsened by salinity (electrical conductivity, EC). These primary risk factors (carbonate and salinity) can be measured with routine soil testing.

Soybean IDC is common in the upper Midwest, northern Great Plains, and Canadian Prairies, where soils frequently have high carbonate and/or salinity. Within a field, IDC symptoms are usually confined to soybean IDC hotspots with high carbonate and salinity; however, symptoms may appear across a field if high carbonate and salinity are present throughout the field. Soybean IDC severity is made worse in cool, wet soils and soils with high residual nitrate-N. Soil pH alone is not a good indicator of soybean IDC risk because some high pH soils lack high carbonate and salinity, which are the two principal risk factors.

Guidelines for managing soybean IDC

  1. Soil test each field, zone, or grid for soil carbonate and salinity. This may require soil sampling prior to soybean (possibly outside of your usual soil sampling rotation), or consult previous soil test records.
  2. Plant soybean in fields with low carbonate and salinity (principal soybean IDC risk factors).
  3. Choose an IDC tolerant soybean variety on fields with moderate to high carbonate and salinity. This is your most practical option to reduce soybean IDC risk. Consult seed dealers, university soybean IDC ratings, and neighbor experiences when searching for IDC tolerant soybean varieties.
  4. Plant soybean in wider rows. Soybean IDC tends to be less severe in wide-row spacings (more plants per row, plants are closer together) than narrow-row spacings or solid-seeded spacings.
  5. Apply chelated iron fertilizer (high-quality FeEDDHA or FeHBED) in-furrow at planting. In-furrow iron fertilizer application may not be enough to help an IDC susceptible variety in high IDC risk soils (see points #2 and #3).
  6. Avoid planting soybean on soils with very high IDC risk.

Soybean Cyst Nematode (SCN)

Soybean cyst nematode (SCN) is the #1 pathogen causing soybean yield loss in the United States. It is a microscopic parasitic worm that lives in soil and attacks the roots of susceptible soybean and dry bean varieties. Soybean cyst nematode is found across the soybean-growing regions of the United States; it first reached Manitoba in 2019.

Soybean cyst nematode is best managed with crop rotation and SCN-resistant soybean varieties. Soil sampling for SCN is your best tool to learn if you have SCN and also if the SCN resistance traits in your soybean varieties are still working. In recent years, AGVISE Laboratories has documented failing SCN control with PI8878 resistance (most common type) and a continuing increase in SCN egg counts across the region. In some places, the SCN egg counts are so high that no soybean crop (resistant or not) should be planted for multiple years. Once you have it, SCN is nearly impossible to eliminate from fields. A current SCN soil sample will help you choose the right SCN-resistant soybean variety and manage SCN populations now and into the future.

Brent Jaenisch

Start Strong, Finish Strong with Starter Phosphorus

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This article originally appeared in the AGVISE Laboratories Spring 2025 Newsletter.

Cool and wet soil conditions can limit root growth and phosphorus uptake during the early growing growing season. This is why starter phosphorus placed with or near the seed can be so effective in enhancing early plant growth and development. In small grains, starter phosphorus helps improve tiller initiation, even on soil with high soil test P. Faster development in spring can also help flowering wheat or canola beat the summer heat, or advance the corn silking date and maturity to help save grain drying expenses in fall.

Research at the University of Minnesota has found that starter phosphorus applied to corn can promote 10-15% more early season corn biomass and advance corn silking date by 1-2 days, across a range of planting dates and hybrid maturities. This can be achieved with starter phosphorus rates as low as 2.5 gal/acre 10-34-0. It is important to choose a phosphorus source and rate that can provide at least 10 lb/acre P2O5 with or near the seed. There are many phosphorus products available. Liquid orthophosphate and polyphosphate sources are equally effective at supplying phosphorus (in spite of what you may read in marketing materials). Compare products based on the cost per total amount of phosphorus applied; simply multiply the phosphorus content (% P2O5), product density (lb/gal), and intended application rate to calculate the total phosphorus rate in lb/acre P2O5.

Starter phosphorus increased early corn plant biomass (growth stage V5) when applied as 10-34-0 with seed, with and without broadcast phosphorus fertilizer. Summarized across multiple soils with pH ranges including 6.0 to 8.5. Reference: Kaiser, D.E, and J.A. Lamb. 2023. Banding fertilizer with corn seed. UMN Ext. Circ., Univ. Minnesota, St. Paul, MN. https://extension.umn.edu/crop-specific-needs/banding-fertilizer-corn-seed

Brent Jaenisch

Soybean Cyst Nematode (SCN) Egg Numbers Continue to Increase

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This article originally appeared in the AGVISE Laboratories Spring 2024 Newsletter.

Over the winter months, we received a lot of questions about the increasing soybean cyst nematode (SCN) egg count trends across the region. Soybean cyst nematode is the most damaging soybean pest in the United States, and the problem is becoming worse. The AGVISE SCN summary over the past five years (2019-2023) shows that SCN egg counts are increasing steadily in Minnesota and North Dakota, which is a serious concern for SCN management into the future.

State Year SCN Egg Count (eggs per 100 cm3 soil, % of soil samples)
0 1 – 200 201 – 2,000 2,001 – 10,000 >10,000
Minnesota 2019 17% 16% 36% 27% 3%
2020 15% 10% 28% 38% 8%
2021 10% 9% 27% 40% 14%
2022 11% 8% 27% 40% 15%
2023 8% 7% 21% 45% 20%
North Dakota 2019 43% 15% 25% 14% 4%
2020 42% 14% 25% 17% 2%
2021 30% 15% 23% 23% 9%
2022 29% 15% 25% 24% 8%
2023 20% 12% 21% 36% 12%

In Minnesota, 65% of SCN soil samples in 2023 had more than 2,000 eggs per 100 cm3 soil. This is the threshold where an SCN-resistant soybean variety is suggested, yet some soybean yield loss is still expected. The percentage of soil samples with zero or low egg counts (<200 eggs) has declined from 17% in 2019 to 8% in 2023, meaning that there are fewer SCN-free fields in the state. More alarming,
the percentage of soil samples with more than 10,000 eggs has skyrocketed from 3% in 2019 to 20% in 2023. This is the threshold above which planting soybean is not suggested, whether resistant or tolerant to SCN, and a non-host rotation crop is suggested.

In North Dakota, 48% of SCN soil samples in 2023 had more than 2,000 eggs per 100 cm3 soil. The percentage of soil samples with zero or low egg counts (<200 eggs) has declined from 43% in 2019 to 20% in 2023. More alarming, the percentage of soil samples with more than 10,000 eggs has quickly increased from 4% in 2019 to 12% in 2023.

These SCN summary trends highlight a growing concern for soybean growers. With SCN, an ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure. A consistent SCN soil sampling program remains one of the best tools to monitor SCN populations. This is how we learn if current SCN management strategies like crop rotation and SCN-resistant varieties are working, or if you need to reevaluate your soybean management plan. A detailed guide to collecting SCN soil samples can be found at the SCN Coalition website.

John Breker

Soil Nitrogen Trends – Fall 2023: Some Up, Some Down

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The 2023 drought was an all-too-soon reminder of the widespread 2021 drought. It covered much of the upper Midwest, Great Plains, and Canadian Prairies. From previous experience with droughts, we expected that residual soil nitrate-N following crops would be higher than normal, caused by the drought and reduced crop yields. The first wheat fields that were soil tested in August and September confirmed our expectation that residual soil nitrate-N was already trending higher than normal. Yet, some regions were spared the drought and received above-average rainfall, and achieved record-setting crop yields. For these regions, the amount of residual soil nitrate-N after high-yielding crops was near or below average. 

The 2023 AGVISE soil test summary data highlights the great variability following the drought. The median amount of soil nitrate-nitrogen across the region was higher than the long-term average following wheat. Over 28% of wheat fields had more than 60 lb/acre nitrate-N (0-24 inch) remaining. Yet, another 17% of wheat fields had less than 20 lb/acre nitrate-N remaining, suggesting either lost crop yield or protein due to insufficient nitrogen nutrition. For any given farm, the great variability in residual soil nitrate-N across all acres makes choosing one single nitrogen fertilizer rate impossible for next year, and soil testing is the only way to decide that right rate for each field.

Through zone soil sampling, we are also able to identify that residual soil nitrate-nitrogen can vary considerably within the same field. This makes sense because we know that some areas of the field produced a fair or good yield, leaving behind less soil nitrate, while other areas produced very poorly and left behind much more soil nitrate. These differences across the landscape are driven by soil texture, soil organic matter, and stored soil water as well as specific problems like soil salinity or low soil pH (aluminum toxicity). Although the regional residual soil nitrate-nitrogen trends were higher overall, it is truly through zone soil sampling that we can begin to make sense of the field variability that drives crop productivity and determine the right fertilizer rate for next year.

For fields that have not been soil tested yet, there is still time to collect soil samples in winter. Nobody wants to experience another drought, but this kind of weather reminds us how important soil nitrate testing is every year for producers in the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies. Each year, AGVISE summarizes soil test data for soil nutrients and properties in our major trade regions of the United States and Canada. For more soil test summary data and other crops, please view our soil test summaries online: https://www.agvise.com/resources/soil-test-summaries/

John Breker

Are Soybean Iron Deficiency Chlorosis (IDC) Ratings Getting Worse?

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This article originally appeared in the AGVISE Laboratories Spring 2023 Newsletter

For the past three years, we have seen severe and widespread soybean iron deficiency chlorosis (IDC) symptoms across the region. In fact, some seasoned agronomists have commented that 2022 was the worst soybean IDC year that they had experienced in decades. Soybean IDC is a serious risk on soils with high calcium carbonate or salinity, which interfere with iron uptake and utilization in soybean. With all that we have learned about soybean IDC risk and management over the past 30 years, we have to ask, “What is going on? Why is soybean IDC continuing to get worse?”

The NDSU soybean IDC trial data suggests it might be the soybean varieties. Each year, seed companies submit soybean varieties to NDSU for independent evaluation of soybean IDC ratings (https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/varietytrials/). The NDSU trial sites impose high soybean IDC risk, where the best and worst soybean varieties are thoroughly tested alike for soybean IDC tolerance. In recent years, the problem is that the year-after-year average soybean IDC rating continues to get worse (see figure). In 2022, the average soybean variety scored 3.5 on the NDSU scale (1-good, 5-bad). Adverse soil and weather conditions may explain part of the worsening problem in the NDSU trials, but it is apparent that few soybean varieties can handle severe soybean IDC on their own. In defense of soybean breeders, there are a lot of different breeding objectives on their plates right now, including herbicide tolerance packages, disease and insect pests, and seed yield, of course!

This means we need to revisit and use all of our options in the soybean IDC toolbox. We have known about these effective management tools for over 20 years, and we are going to need to use all of them until soybean variety IDC tolerance can get to where we need it.

Steps to better soybean IDC management

  • Soil test each field, zone, or grid for carbonate and salinity to evaluate soybean IDC risk potential.
  • Plant soybean in fields with low soybean IDC risk. Choose a tolerant soybean variety, if you can. Some high IDC-risk fields may not be suitable for soybean.
  • Use a chelated iron fertilizer (high-quality EDDHA or HBED chelate) with seed at planting. Liquid and dry products are now available.
  • Plant soybean in wider rows. Soybean IDC tends to be less severe in wider rows.
John Breker

Early Soil Nitrate Trends after Wheat in 2022

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Small grain harvest is well underway across the region, and soil testing is progressing quickly. Crop yields have varied from below average to exceeding expectations across the region and often in the same area. Planting date, summer temperatures, and rainfall (too little or too much) were major factors this year.

The major factors influencing the amount of residual soil nitrate-N after crops are:

1.     Nitrogen fertilizer rate: too high or too low
2.     Crop yield achieved: much lower or higher than expected
3.     Nitrogen losses: denitrification and leaching after too much rainfall
4.     Nitrogen mineralization from organic matter: cool or warm growing season

Seasonal weather is a large driving factor in the amount of nitrate-N in the soil profile. This changes from field to field and year to year. Early spring weather conditions were very wet across much of the region. In June and July, some areas continued to receive adequate to excess rainfall. Meanwhile, other areas received very little rain in the late growing season.

AGVISE has tested over 10,000 soil samples from wheat fields across the region. The table below indicates the percentage of soil samples in each soil nitrate-nitrogen category in several areas of Manitoba, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota. The data should give you a general idea of how variable residual soil nitrate is from field to field in each region. With such variable crop yields, there is quite a bit of variability in residual nitrate following wheat in the region. In drought-affected areas of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota, over 10 to 20% of soil samples have more than 60 lb/acre nitrate-N (0-24 inch soil profile) remaining after wheat.

What about Prevented Planting or unseeded acres?

For Prevented Planting or unseeded acres, the factors above plus some additional factors will affect the amount of residual nitrate-nitrogen:

1.     How long was water standing on the field?
2.     Was weed growth controlled, early or late?
3.     Was tillage used? How many times? How deep?
4.     Was a cover crop planted? What amount of growth was achieved?

When submitting soil samples from fields that were not planted, please choose “Fallow” or “Cover Crop” as the previous crop. This will allow us to send additional information on soil nitrate trends for unseeded and cover crop fields once we get enough data.

As the fall soil testing season continues, we will keep you updated. If you have any questions, please call our experienced agronomic staff. We hope you have a safe harvest and soil testing season.

 

Brent Jaenisch

Corn Growth and Development – Are we behind?

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This article originally appeared in the AGVISE Laboratories Fall 2022 Newsletter under Southern Trends

The spring and early summer were very interesting to say the least. Spring rains continued well into late May and delayed planting for sugar beet, corn, and soybean throughout the southern region. By mid-May, many producers changed long-day corn maturities to earlier corn maturities. In the Benson, MN neighborhood, corn planting finally got underway around May 20 (60% planted) and near completion on June 5 (93% planted). Around the coffee shop, many people have commented, “How far behind is the corn crop in 2022?” So, let’s put some numbers to this question.

The High Plains Regional Climate Center has a nice growing degree day (GDD) calculator for simulations of corn growth and development (https://hprcc.unl.edu/agroclimate/gdd.php). I made a few GDD simulations for previous years, comparing 2022 with 2019 (a below-average GDD year) and 2021 (an incredible GDD year). As of mid-July, the 2022 growing season was 3 days ahead of 2019 (63 more GDD) and 9 days behind 2021 (182 fewer GDD). A corn plant takes about three days to make a new leaf when the corn plant is V12 and younger, so you can guesstimate that we were about 3 leaf stages behind 2021.

With the late spring planting window, many corn producers around Benson, MN opted for corn maturities about 6 to 8 days earlier than normal. If you compare an earlier 92-day corn maturity with a more typical 100-day corn maturity, the required GDD to blacklayer is 2207 and 2401 GDD, respectively. We generally accumulate 20-30 GDD per day in midsummer. If either corn maturity was planted on May 20, the estimated silking (R1 stage) date is July 21 for the 92-day maturity and July 25 for the 100-day maturity, a difference of four days. Similarly, the estimated blacklayer (R6 stage) date is September 18 for the 92-day maturity and October 12 for the 100-day maturity, a difference of 24 days. Toward the end of the growing season when fewer GDD are accumulated per day, the difference in maturity groups really starts to show. Warmer than average temperatures will shorten that difference, but only time will tell if the right decision was to plant earlier corn maturities.

Nielsen, R. L. The Planting Date Conundrum. Corny News Network, Apr. 2022. Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN. https://www.agry.purdue.edu/ext/corn/news/timeless/pltdatecornyld.html

To help drive home the point about planting date and final corn grain yield, I really like the graph from Dr. Bob Nielsen at Purdue University (figure above). Early planting does not always result in very high corn yield, and late planting does not always result in very low corn yield. In 2022, late planting will limit top-end crop yield potential, but the final crop yield could still be good as long as GDD accumulation remains above average. As always, Mother Nature will be the final determinant in setting the final crop yield.

John Breker

Prevented Planting Acres? What to do for 2023

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This article originally appeared in the AGVISE Laboratories Fall 2022 Newsletter

Good crop prices encouraged late planting beyond crop insurance deadlines, but additional June rainfall kept some producers from planting all their acres, leaving some unplanted fields or unplanted parts of fields. There are many questions about soil testing on these unplanted fields: When should you start soil sampling? What kind of residual soil nitrate-nitrogen amounts can you expect? The extremely wet soil conditions may have caused considerable soil nitrogen losses to leaching or denitrification. Through summer, warmer and drier weather added nitrogen through mineralization of soil organic matter. In addition, cover crops and any weedy growth will acquire nitrogen from soil. The amount of soil nitrate-nitrogen remaining for next year will depend on soil type, environment, and management factors, which vary from field to field and zone to zone.

Management Factors
• What was the crop grown in the previous year?
• What was the nitrogen fertilizer rate and application timing? Was it applied last fall?
• Did you do any summer tillage? More tillage promotes nitrogen mineralization.
• How was your weed control? Did the weeds get large and acquire substantial nitrogen?
• Did you plant a cover crop? Did the cover crop get incorporated later?

Environmental Factors
• Did excessive rainfall cause nitrate leaching on well-drained soils?
• Did excessive rainfall cause denitrification on poorly drained soils?
• Were summer temperatures warm? Warm temperatures promote N mineralization.

Soil testing on these unplanted fields can begin as soon as good quality soil samples can be collected after mid-August. There is no reliable way to guess how much residual soil nitrate may be present in these unplanted fields or unplanted parts of fields. Soil testing is the only accurate way to learn how much residual soil nitrate remains in the soil profile. To obtain the best information for nitrogen management, we recommend splitting fields into management zones for soil testing. The unplanted field areas can vary considerably from the rest of the field, which will skew the field-average soil test result and resulting nitrogen fertilizer rate.

Jodi Boe

Zone Soil Sampling and Variable Rate Fertilization: Optimizing profits

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This article originally appeared in the AGVISE Laboratories Winter 2022 Newsletter

Farmers, like all business owners, are profit maximizers: things are good when revenue exceeds cost. Things are even better when the difference between revenue and costs is substantial. The math behind increasing profit is simple: reduce costs, increase revenue. But, the difficult part is finding and implementing strategies on the farm to do this. Why not start with fertilizer, which is typically the largest annual input cost on the farm?

Your fields are variable. You know the hilltops have lower crop yields than the mid-slopes, and you know exactly how far the saline spots creep into the more productive part of the field. So why use the same rate of fertilizer in the unproductive areas as you would in the productive areas? Optimize your fertilizer inputs by reducing rates in low-yielding areas and reallocate those fertilizer dollars to the productive ground.

The North Field Zone Map

Figure 1. North Field zone map, created using ADMS from GK Technology.

How does one actually do this? Creating zone maps for your fields, soil sampling and testing based on productivity zones, and variable rate (VRT) fertilizer application is the place to start. Applying VRT fertilizer allows you to apply fertilizer where it is needed and not waste fertilizer dollars where it is not. Let me show you an example from my family’s farm in western North Dakota.

I farm with my dad and brother in southwest North Dakota. This past fall, I created zone maps for each of our fields, with help from GK Technology and their ADMS program. The final maps are based on historical satellite imagery. I will show you one of our fields, the North Field, and take a deep dive on nitrogen fertilizer optimization using zone soil sampling and VRT fertilization in the dryland “out west” country.

The North Field (Figure 1) is variable. That is expected on a 120-acre field with many hills and ravines (Table 1). For discussion, we will use residual soil nitrate-nitrogen results and make a nitrogen fertilizer plan using urea for hard red spring wheat (HRSW) in 2022. You can see the soil nitrogen data, crop yield goals, and final nitrogen rates in Table 2.

 

The first place to optimize fertilizer inputs is setting realistic crop yield goals for each zone. Spring wheat yield goals range from 65 bushel/ acre in the best zone (zone 1) to 30 bushel/acre on the hilltops (zone 5). Adjusting the nitrogen rate for the proper crop yield goal ensures that the high-producing zones are not limited by lack of nitrogen (increased fertilizer cost, increased revenue) and the low-producing zones are not overfertilized (decreased fertilizer cost, same revenue). With a responsible crop yield goal on the low-producing zones, the crop still receives the amount of nitrogen it requires, and excess nitrogen is not lost to nitrate leaching (wasted input cost). As a result, the excess nitrogen fertilizer is reallocated to high-producing zones, resulting in more crop yield with the same total fertilizer budget, and increased revenue.

The nitrogen fertilizer scenarios in Tables 3 and 4 break down the projected revenues and expenses, demonstrating the benefits of zone soil sampling and VRT fertilization. For the North Field on my farm, the projected profit increase was $3,725 for the field or $31.05 per acre. It is tough to argue with a dollar amount like that! Prices will vary, of course, for fertilizer and precision ag services in your geography. Do the math for yourself and see how zone soil sampling and VRT fertilization can maximize profits for you.

John Lee

2021 Drought: High residual soil nitrate-nitrogen across the region

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This article originally appeared in the AGVISE Laboratories Winter 2022 Newsletter.

The 2021 drought rivals the 1988 drought, and it covered much of the northern Great Plains and Canadian Prairies. From previous experience with droughts, we expected that residual soil nitrate-N following crops would be higher than normal, caused by the drought and reduced crop yields. The first wheat fields that were soil tested in August and September confirmed our expectation that residual soil nitrate-N was already trending much higher than normal.

The 2021 AGVISE soil test summary data highlights how exceptional the 2021 drought was. The median amount of soil nitrate-N across the region was markedly higher following wheat and corn. Over 20% of wheat fields had more than 100 lb/acre nitrate-N (0-24 inch) remaining, and another 40% of wheat fields had a sizable 40 to 80 lb/acre nitrate-N (0-24 inch) left over. For any given farm, the great variability in residual soil nitrate-N makes choosing one single nitrogen fertilizer rates impossible, and soil testing is the only way to decide that right rate for each field.

Through zone soil sampling, we were also able to identify that residual soil nitrate-N varied considerably within a field. This makes sense because we know that some areas of the field produced a fair yield, leaving behind less soil nitrate, while other areas produced very poorly and left behind much more soil nitrate. These differences across the landscape are driven by soil texture, soil organic matter, and stored soil water as well as specific problems like soil salinity or low soil pH (aluminum toxicity). Although the regional residual soil nitrate-N trends were higher overall, it is truly through zone soil sampling that we can begin to make sense of the field variability that drives crop productivity and the right fertilizer rate for next year.

For fields that have not been soil tested yet, there is still time to collect soil samples in winter (see winter soil sampling article). Nobody wants to experience another drought, but this kind of weather reminds us how important soil nitrate testing is every year for producers in the Great Plains. Each year, AGVISE summarizes soil test data for soil nutrients and properties in our major trade region of the United States and Canada. For more soil test summary data and other crops, please take a look at our soil test summaries online.