At the Profitable Field conference, held in Kyiv on February 19, a panel discussion on plant nutrition became a genuine manifesto against “average figures.”
Moderated by Vadym Skrypnyk, the discussion opened with a provocative memory:
“Twenty years ago, an agronomy lecture would begin with the question: ‘How much does NPK fertilizer cost?’ Back then, we didn’t understand why students needed to know that. Today, that question is about business survival.”
Economics Over Yield: Why Can 12 Tonnes of Corn Still Lose Money?
The central message of the discussion was clear: yield is no longer the ultimate measure of success. Markets have changed, logistics have become more expensive, and rising input costs mean that every decision must be calculated.
“You can grow 12 tonnes of corn and make nothing because your production costs are too high. Or you can produce 8 tonnes with the right nutrient management system and generate a net profit,” emphasized Vadym Skrypnyk.
Oleh Furmanets supported this argument, explaining why standard fertilizer rates — based on traditional textbook recommendations — can now become a direct route to unnecessary costs:
“A standard rate is a simplification. It is easier to open a reference book and apply the same rate across 100 hectares. But a field is a mosaic. Even within the same field block, nutrient availability can vary dramatically. If you ignore this variability, you either overfeed the crop where additional nutrients will not increase yield, or limit its potential where nutrition is critically deficient. That is inefficiency.”
Intelligence Over Iron: The Technical Revolution Has Already Happened
One of the most interesting insights concerned farm machinery. According to the experts, expensive equipment is no longer the main barrier to precision agriculture. Most sprayers and spreaders manufactured over the past 10 years already have built-in capabilities for variable-rate application.
“The problem is not the hardware, but the intelligence behind it. The hardest part is building quality analytics, mapping yield and understanding WHY one part of a field produces 10 tonnes while another produces four. Until you know the reason — whether it is pH, compaction or phosphorus deficiency — buying a new spreader makes little sense. This is a job for the brain, not just the hydraulics,” added Oleh Furmanets.
MHP’s Experience: The Economics of Precision and the Power of Organic Matter
Oleksii Tarasenko outlined the strategy of one of Ukraine’s largest agricultural holdings. The company has moved away from the “one sample per field” approach to a much more detailed sampling grid, averaging one sample per five hectares.
What does this mean in financial terms?
- Variable-rate liming: In areas where analysis shows that no soil amendment is required, direct savings range from $15 to $70 per hectare.
- Nitrogen management: Redistributing nitrogen rates according to actual productivity zones adds another $10–20/ha to net profit.
- Organic nutrient management: MHP is actively integrating poultry manure and compost into its nutrient strategy. This not only helps replace expensive mineral fertilizers, but also improves soil structure — a strategic investment in the future.
Soil Amendment: The Foundation We Are Losing
Anna Marushchak and Professor Anatolii Bykin emphasized that without correcting the soil’s basic parameters — including pH and the calcium-to-magnesium balance — any nutrient management system will remain incomplete.
“We talk about complex fertilizer blends and micronutrients, but forget that at low pH, the plant simply cannot access phosphorus. Up to 60% of your fertilizer investment can be tied up by the soil and remain there as nothing more than a dead number,” Anna Marushchak stressed.
Anatolii Bykin added that even the best soil amendment on paper will fail if the application technology is not properly followed:
“The effectiveness of neutralization depends on contact between the amendment particles and the soil. If you simply spread lime and fail to incorporate it at the right time, or if the material itself is of questionable quality, you have simply spent money on logistics.”
Scouting and Analytics: What Should You Do Tomorrow?
The discussion concluded with a focus on what happens after fertilizer application. In-season scouting and monitoring make it possible to adjust decisions dynamically as the crop develops.
“We collect data using UAVs and ground surveys not simply to see ‘green clouds’ on an NDVI map, but to mark specific geocoordinates and ask: what went wrong here? That becomes the foundation for planning the next season,” Oleksii Tarasenko concluded.
Takeaways for Farmers: 5 Steps to a More Profitable Field
- Move away from standard formulas: Textbook rates are a starting point, not an instruction manual.
- Increase sampling resolution: Moving from one sample per 10 hectares to one per 5 hectares — or even one per hectare in complex areas — can pay for itself in a single season through fertilizer savings alone.
- Correct soil pH: This is the first investment that makes every subsequent step more effective.
- Map yield: Yield mapping provides the most honest feedback from the field — something no satellite can fully replace.
- Invest in knowledge: The machinery is already ready. Now it is up to specialists who know how to turn data into decisions.
