You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”
That quote is usually attributed to Peter Drucker, an American management expert and business guru.
According to one crop nutrition company, some Canadian farmers must be listening to similar advice because more of them are using soil tests to measure and manage crop nutrition needs.
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“We’ve seen, within our own customer base, year-over-year growth in soil sampling,” said Jesse Hamonic, vice-president and country head for Nutrien Ag Solutions. “We’ve seen a skyrocket in soil sampling and how farmers are looking at variable rate to maximize their (return) on fertility.”
Hamonic made his comments at the Nutrien Ag Solutions booth at the Ag in Motion outdoor farm expo northwest of Saskatoon.
Other companies at Ag in Motion say they have witnessed a similar trend. More farmers are buying into the concept of using soil data to make decisions.
About 14 years ago, Blair Mitchell started working for Decisive Farming, an Alberta company that offers soil sampling and agronomic advice. Back then, the business was sampling about 150,000 acres on the Prairies.
“With the sampling season of 2024, we were up around 1.4 million acres across Western Canada,” said Mitchell, the company’s field operations manager.
“Over the last 13 years, it has been trending up and I don’t see a reason why it would stop. Input costs are not getting cheaper.”
The data suggests a link between grain prices and input costs and the amount of soil testing in Canada. When grain and input costs jump, farmers spend more money on soil tests.
There was a significant increase in soil sampling in Canada during the commodity boom of 2008 -10, said Wayne Black, national sales manager for A & L Laboratories Canada.
“Every time that the fertilizer price substantially increased, or the revenue from crops increased substantially, there was a big jump (in testing).”
The increase could also be connected to greater adoption of variable rate technology, which requires more in-depth soil and crop nutrient data.
Hamonic has also noticed more interest in variable rate technology as growers try to maximize profits.
“It’s not about less or more (fertilizer). It’s about making sure it’s in the right place and there is the right amount of macro (nutrients) available for that crop,” said Hamonic. “(It’s) about optimizing on an acre by acre basis.”
Andrea Bilodeau, a senior agrologist with Decisive Farming, said farmers who first start soil sampling often want to look at all the information — macronutrients, micro-nutrients, organic matter and other data points. The next time they do it, they might change focus, but the end goal is the same.
“Our producers are really looking to increase their knowledge … on how they’re (optimally) using their nutrients.”
Black made a similar comment. Farmers want more details of “what’s going on in that field, to get more use out of each dollar.”
He said there’s room for growth in the Canadian market when it comes to soil tests and analysis. Despite growth in demand, it still doesn’t happen on most Canadian cropland.
“When I look at the total volume of soil sampling … in Canada, we’re only testing about 16 to 20 percent of … what could be done for soil testing.”
