Commercial Nitrogen Optimization Pilot Grant Program

Application Office Hours

Application Office Hours are held from 9:30-10 a.m. every Monday from October 21, 2024 through January 13, 2025. To register to ​attend ​a session, click here​. ​​

​Introduction to P​​​​​r​​og​​ram​​​​​​​

NOPP is designed to encourage agricultural producers to develop innovative approaches to optimize the application of commercial nitrogen for a duration of at least two growing seasons. The producers must collaborate with a UWS institution, which will monitor the grant project on-site. The total award to an applicant cannot exceed $40,000.

Under 92.14(1​6), Stats., grant recipients must meet all of the following eligibility requirements to be considered for funding:

  • Project must include two growing seasons.
  • UWS institution should monitor the grant project on-site.
  • Priority will be given to innovative projects not currently funded through state or federal programs.
  • Priority will be given for longer-term projects.
To learn about the basics of the program, watch Lindsey Rushford, UW NOPP Coordinator, talk about the program on Life on the Farm:
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 NOPP Spotlights ​ ​

Insight FS
Carl Hahn of Insight FS, is a 2024 Nitrogen Optimization Pilot Program (NOPP) grant recipient! Along with his dad, Jeff Hahn, Carl is evaluating Variable Rate Nitrogen (VRN) as a means of reducing commercial nitrogen applications.

Can pre-sidedress soil nitrate (PSNT) tests be used to accurately inform the nitrogen rates needed at various sampling locations in the field? After a handful of seasons digging into the idea, Carl was made aware of NOPP and thought, “this could be a perfect way to actually study this using scientific rigor and a two-year study!" In addition to the standard suite of nitrogen rates, the trial includes a treatment where the N-rate is dictated by the PSNT results taken just prior to application. When asked about the motivation behind learning more about VRN, Carl says there isn't one single motivation. 

“Our goal with this was to reduce the amount of nitrogen needed and figuring out how we can treat nitrogen applications on a per acre basis," Carl said. He also notes that the method could save the farmer money on nitrogen and to relocate those funds somewhere else in the management system.

Additionally,  “if we're not putting out more nitrogen than what the plant is going to use, then there's no nitrogen there to leach away." Carl notes that, while conducting a fully replicated trial “was a little stressful," he's glad they did it and says they would do it again!

Lien

Kris Lein, in collaboration with Extension Educator Steve Okonek, is a 2024 Nitrogen Optimization Pilot Program grant recipient! With a project titled “Identify optimum nitrogen rate following hog wean to finish manure”, Kris and Steve are curious how hog manure impacts corn yield as compared to commercial nitrogen fertilizer in a unique landscape in Jackson County.

Steve sums up the project as follows: “Hog manure is unique to Wisconsin as most farms are dairy or beef farms. Much of the research into application rates of hog manure is done on silt loam and clay loam soils in Minnesota and Iowa. The Driftless area of Wisconsin has variable soils with sandy loams and silt loam soils. I want to determine the corn yield response to hog manure on Driftless Area soils so we can better protect our fragile environment.”

The on-farm trial designed to answer these unique questions will wrap up its first year this season and the project will conclude following harvest in 2025.

Chippewa Valley​

Seven dairies across Wisconsin, and their local Extension educators and outreach specialists, are 2024 Nitrogen Optimization Pilot Program grant recipients! Even though the dairies are spread across the state, they’re all interested in evaluating nitrogen fertilizer rate recommendations following a manure application.


Nutrient & Pest Management Outreach Specialist Jordan Kampa said, “As Extension educators, we’ve heard from several farmers and specialists that the research around manure nutrient credits is outdated. Specifically, research and data should be updated to more accurately represent what is happening to manure nitrogen in the field and how to credit that. A group of us decided to collaborate with farmers in our respective regions (Washington, Kewaunee, Burnett, Oconto, and Chippewa 
counties, and two in Rock County) to establish a nitrogen rate study that includes strips with and strips without manure. We want to better understand what amount of nitrogen the manure gives us and what nitrogen fertilizer rates should be applied with manure applications. We’d also like to learn how long that manure-N credit persists. We are excited to collaborate with Dr. Steven Hall, Agricultural Water Quality Extension Specialist, to install resin lysimeters on one of the fields to measure nitrate leaching. Combining water quality measurements with a rigorous rate yield response trial will be valuable. We also don’t know much about the vulnerability of manure nitrogen vs. synthetic fertilizer nitrogen to leaching, so this project will provide us information on leaching applicable to the WIisconsin landscape. The lysimeters were installed beneath undisturbed soil in each plot and will trap nitrate in water that drains through the lysimeter. After a year, the lysimeters will be removed and analyzed in the lab. We're all very excited to be able to contribute data on a statewide scale, as we know the landscape varies across the state.”  

Isherwood.jpg ​Isherwood Family Farms

Isaac Isherwood of Isherwood Family Farms is a 2024 Nitrogen Optimization Pilot Program grant recipient! The project investigates the potential of Bio-Gro products to reduce nitrogen fertilizer rates and nitrate leaching on sandy soil potato production. Isaac came across Bio-Gro products while looking for humic and fulvic acid, which he heard could allow him to reduce nitrogen rates and help the plant utilize that nitrogen. The first year Isaac used it in a potato field, he said “The root mass was significantly larger just with the naked eye and both yield and quality were significantly higher. So this year, I jumped on board with almost the entire farm in potatoes.” Isherwood Family Farms partnered with Guolong Liang (Agriculture Water Quality Outreach Specialist with UW-Madison Extension) and Kevin Masarik (Groundwater Education Specialist with Extension and UW-Stevens Point) to apply for an NOPP grant with a project that utilizes lysimeters to help monitor and estimate nitrate leaching. The trial has five main treatments: “business as usual” (BAU), which is their typical nitrogen rate; a 15% reduction from BAU; 30% reduction from BAU, and no additional nitrogen fertilizer. While these treatments do not include Bio-Gro products, the fifth treatment is a 30% reduction from BAU with the addition of Bio-Gro products. When asked about the motivation behind this project, Isaac said he “hopes to get the same yield and quality with fewer nitrogen inputs.” Taking it a step further, he explained​ that it’s “okay spending more on biological products when you can reduce environmental pollution of nitrogen,” and that “it makes you feel good feeding people with the most healthy and sustainable product as possible." 


To read more NOPP project updates, visit the NOPP Project Spotlight Archives. ​

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