The most challenging nutrient to manage this season was nitrogen. Record rainfall in the spring resulted in leaching of nitrates from the soil profile, followed by a droughtthat limited available soil up­­take. How can you do a better job to manage nitrogen on your farm to minimize environmental impact, optimize harvest yields and maximize input utilization — also known as the MOM (minimize, optimize, maximize) approach?

Here are a few tips:

1) It is important to determine how much residual nitrogen you have in a field. This ...