Northwood Laboratory
804 Hwy 15 West
P.O. Box 510
Northwood, ND 58267
Phone: 701-587-6010
Fax: 701-587-6013
Benson Laboratory
902 13th Street North
P.O. Box 187
Benson, MN 56215
Phone: 320-843-4109
Fax: 320-843-2074
Canada Shipping Address
380 Kimberly Road
Winkler, MB R6W 0H7
Phone: 701-587-6010
Lime Works: The Results Are In
/in Research, Soil Amendment, Soil pH/by Jodi BoeThis article was originally published in the AGVISE Laboratories Winter 2023 Newsletter. In the fall of 2022, I hired a custom applicator to haul and spread lime across 238 acres of my family’s farm in western North Dakota. The reason? To increase soil pH on five fields with very low soil pH. One field even […]
Soil Nitrogen Trends – Fall 2023: Some Up, Some Down
/in Drought, Nitrogen, Regional Data, Wheat/by John BrekerThe 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 […]
Choosing the Right Phosphorus Method
/in Phosphorus, Soil Chemical Analysis/by Cindy EvensonThis article originally appeared in the AGVISE Laboratories Spring 2023 Newsletter under President’s Corner The phosphorus soil test debate never ends. Should I use the Olsen test, or maybe Bray-1 would be better? What about the Mehlich-3 method, and should that extract be analyzed on an ICP or with a colorimetric method? Perhaps, Bray-2 or […]
Are Soybean Iron Deficiency Chlorosis (IDC) Ratings Getting Worse?
/in Iron, Soybean/by John BrekerThis 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 […]
Two Graphics You Should Know Before the 2023 Growing Season
/in Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium/by Jodi BoeThis article originally appeared in the AGVISE Laboratories Spring 2023 Newsletter The goal of AGVISE Newsletters is to inform you and your customers of important soil fertility information relevant to our area. Often, visuals or graphs are much more powerful at communicating a message than words. With that in mind, I want to share two […]
John Breker Appointed to NAPT Oversight Committee
/in Quality Control/by John BrekerThis article originally appeared in the AGVISE Laboratories Spring 2023 Newsletter John Breker was appointed to the North American Proficiency Testing Program Oversight Committee as the North Central Region representative, starting in January 2023. The North American Proficiency Testing (NAPT) Program assists soil, plant, and water laboratories with quality control and quality assurance through inter-laboratory […]
High Fertilizer Prices? Using Crop Removal P & K Rates is an Expensive Choice
/in Crop Removal, Phosphorus, Potassium/by John BrekerThis article originally appeared in the AGVISE Laboratories Spring 2023 Newsletter If you thought high fertilizer prices would resolve after one or two years, it is looking like those prices are becoming the new norm. At such prices, every fertilizer dollar you spend must be spent to guarantee the best bang for each buck. This […]
Early Soil Nitrate Trends after Wheat in 2022
/in Nitrogen, Regional Data, Wheat/by John BrekerSmall 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 […]
Corn Growth and Development – Are we behind?
/in Corn/by Brent JaenischThis 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 […]
Sampling Depth: Be consistent!
/in Soil Sampling/by Jodi BoeThis article originally appeared in the AGVISE Laboratories Fall 2022 Newsletter Soil test results are only as reliable as the soil samples collected in the field. A crucial part of soil sample quality is consistent sampling depth. This is important because all the soil test calibration research and fertilizer guidelines for non-mobile nutrients (e.g., phosphorus, […]
Prevented Planting Acres? What to do for 2023
/in Nitrogen, Prevented Planting/by John BrekerThis 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 […]
Soil Sampling for Nitrogen in a Delayed Spring
/in In-Season Fertilizer, Nitrogen, Soil Sampling/by John BrekerSpring planting is clipping along in some parts of the region, while other parts are still waiting to hit the field, as excessive rainfall and cold temperatures have delayed spring field work and planting. Who would have thought last fall that this is what spring 2022 would look like, after the worst region-wide drought in […]
Probe stuck in the ground? Don’t let it wreck your day.
/in Equipment/by John LeeIf you have ever had a soil probe come off while in the ground, you have experienced a rare but stressful event! A customer recently called with this situation and a success story about how he recovered the soil probe “MacGyver” style. I think his solution involved barb wire, duct tape and some chewing gum. […]
Zone Soil Sampling and Variable Rate Fertilization: Optimizing profits
/in Nitrogen, Precision Ag, Wheat/by Jodi BoeThis 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 […]
2021 Drought: High residual soil nitrate-nitrogen across the region
/in Corn, Drought, Nitrogen, Regional Data, Wheat/by John LeeThis 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 […]