It was 5 years ago that the Minnesota Corn Growers began funding the Nitrogen Smart Program. The idea was to be proactive and help educate corn farmers on nitrogen use. Corn needs nitrogen but overapplying nitrogen is an additional cost and has environmental concerns with water quality. The idea was if farmers do a better job managing nitrogen maybe there will be fewer regulations.
University of Minnesota Extension Educator Brad Carlson has been working with the Nitrogen Smart Program since the beginning. Brad said more than 1,000 farmers have been certified in the Nitrogen Smart Program. The Nitrogen Smart Program is available on the U of M Extension website so you can watch it whenever you have time. Last year Brad developed the Nitrogen Advanced Deep Dive into the 4 R s as a follow up to the Nitrogen Smart Program which was very popular.