Understand the Value of Tissue Testing

Knowing whether or not your plants are absorbing the nutrients you’re feeding them is important information in the heat of the season and when planning for next year.
 
Tissue testing is an additional tool you and your trusted advisor can use to create an in-season nutrient game plan. It enables you to have better conversations about the nutritional status of your crops and to explore what could be done differently to help optimize your yield and ROI potential.

Get more out of tissue testing

I’m based in southeastern Idaho and work with agronomy retailers in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). Many of them have been using NutriSolutions^® tissue testing services for five or more years. This is a group that’s always looking for ways to take their customers to the next level.
 
In fact, in 2018, I saw retailer use of NutriSolutions increase 40.5 percent in the PNW. Why the jump? Crop advisors and agronomists are able to use this information to help farmers like you optimize use of on-farm technology in addition to enhancing management practices.

Build a nutrient database

There are a number of wheat farmers in this area who are focused on soil sampling. But soil sampling only measures nutrient levels within the ground, not what plants are actually taking in and are hungry for.
 
NutriSolutions tissue testing helps retailers build a nutrient database they can use to gauge nutrient levels throughout a crop’s growth stages. It also allows farmers, crop advisors and agronomists to identify hidden nutrient needs and to check variable-rate fertilizer prescriptions to assess the accuracy of application rates. And it lets you and your trusted advisor detect nutrient deficiencies before yield is compromised.
 
Farmers submitted more than 45,000 tissue samples for NutriSolutions analysis in 2019 alone. The WinField United sampling database includes more than 600,000 data points that help identify nutrient trends based on geography, soil type and environmental conditions. If you haven’t used NutriSolutions tissue testing, talk with your local trusted advisor about how it can help you identify nutrient deficiencies and give your crops the boost they need.
 

This article was originally published in July 2019 and was updated in April 2020.

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