Tag: FERT Foundation

Meet the 4R Researcher Charlie Sanchez

The FERT Foundation is home to 12 research projects that focus on fluid fertilizer and 4R optimization. Every week, we feature a different researcher in our publication. This week, we’re excited to introduce you to Charlie Sanchez.

Project Name: Spatial and Temporal N Management for Irrigated Vegetable Production Systems  

University: University of Arizona  

Years Funded: 2019-2021 

4R Questions Addressed: Rate, Time and Place  

This project focused on: 

  • Developing economically viable and effective sampling protocols to generate prescription maps for the variable rate pre-plant and in-season application of N comparing soil and plant sampling 
  • Comparing variable rate N application to current methods and evaluating alternative economic outcomes 
  • Evaluating and testing methods to augment zone-based management with optical sensors 

Meet 4R Researcher Dr. Matt Yost

The FERT Foundation is home to 12 research projects that focus on fluid fertilizer and 4R optimization. Each week we have been featuring a different researcher in this publication, and this week, we’d like you to meet 4R Researcher Dr. Matt Yost, and introduce his project of “Stacking and Intersecting Nutrient and Irrigation 4Rs.”

Researcher:  

Researcher Dr. Matt Yost, Assistant Professor at Utah State University, has been leading the project “Stacking and Intersecting Nutrient and Irrigation 4Rs” funded from 2019 to 2024. This project explores how individual and stacked nutrient and irrigation 4R’s intersect to improve the sustainability of major forage, fruit, grain, and vegetable crops in the West. It addresses both priority cropping systems and priority issues outlined in the request for proposals. Four major efforts include producer surveys to quantify 4R adoption and barriers, five coordinated field experiments that utilize a new innovative way to evaluate stacking nutrient 4R’s across crops, utilization of three existing stacked irrigation 4R experiments to quantify how 90 water conservation treatments influence nutrient uptake and efficiencies, and a dynamic multi-state coordinated outreach program to improve adoption of nutrient and irrigation 4R’s. Intersecting nutrient and irrigation 4R’s will guide investments by growers and industry towards combinations that result in the most profitable and sustainable outcomes. 

Dr. Yost’s work aims to: 

  • Determine western forage, fruit, grain, and vegetable producer’s attitudes, acceptance rates, and barriers to adoption of nutrient and irrigation 4R’s in order to better adapt and target Extension and outreach efforts 
  • Identify how individual and stacked nitrogen fertilizer 4R’s impact crop performance, water productivity, and environmental impacts 
  • Determine how individual and stacked irrigation 4R’s impact nutrient uptake and use efficiency 
  • Deliver dynamic educational products and training on nutrient and irrigation 4R’s through Extension and coordinated outreach. 

4R Research: Meet the Researcher Dr. William Frame

Dr. William Frame

The FERT Foundation is home to 12 research projects that focus on fluid fertilizer and 4R optimization. Members had the opportunity to meet researchers and learn about these projects during last week’s Fertilizer Research Forum. Each week we have been featuring a different researcher in this publication, and this week, we’d like you to meet 4R Researcher Dr. William Frame.


Researcher: Dr. William “Hunter” Frame is a native of Virginia and a graduate of Virginia Tech (B.S. and Ph.D.), as well as the University of Tennessee Knoxville (M.S.). He specialized in Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences and Plant Sciences, with his advanced degrees focusing on nitrogen fertilizer management in winter wheat, corn, and burley tobacco systems. Since May 2012, he has been a faculty member at Virginia Tech, serving as the Field Crop Agronomist. His program concentrates on addressing agronomic challenges in cotton production and enhanced efficiency nitrogen fertilizer management for non-legume field crops. Currently, he serves as the project director on the TFI 4R funded grant ($874,980): “An Integrated Approach for Nitrogen Management in Upland Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) across the U.S. Cotton Belt” from 2019 to 2024. Outside of his research and Extension program responsibilities, Dr. Frame enjoys watching his daughter play softball and bow hunting for whitetail deer.

Dr. Frame’s work aims to: 

  • Quantify the agronomic response of contemporary cotton varieties adapted to major production regions to varying N rates and placement strategies 
  • Determine the impact of EEF’s on N transformations and increasing NUE in cotton production systems 
  • Measure gaseous N losses, other common greenhouse gases from common N fertilizers, and leaching of N applied at varying N application rates and placements with and without enhanced efficiency N fertilizer additives or products 

4R Research: Meet the Researcher Dr. Patrick Brown

Dr. Patrick Brown

The FERT Foundation is home to 12 research projects that focus on fluid fertilizer and 4R optimization. Members had the opportunity to meet and learn about these projects during last week’s Fertilizer Research Forum. Each week we have been featuring a different researcher in this publication, and this week, we’d like you to meet 4R Researcher Patrick Brown.  

Researcher: Dr. Patrick Brown is the Professor of Plant Nutrition at the University of California, Davis – USA. He received his B.Sc. in 1984 from Adelaide University, Australia and Ph.D. from Cornell University, USA in 1988.  Dr. Brown has authored more than 250 scientific journal articles and numerous books and is among the highest cited experts in plant nutrition, biostimulants, boron, foliar fertilizers and horticulture. Dr. Brown is recognized globally as a leader in both basic and applied plant nutrition and has served as a member of numerous scientific and technical committees for governmental agencies including US-EPA, USDA, Californian Dept. Food and Ag and the International Standards Organization. Dr. Brown is a member of the IFA’s Science Panel for the Responsible Use of Fertilizers. Dr. Brown has received many awards national and international for excellence in research and extension. 

Project Name: Optimizing Potassium Management in Almond  

University: UC Davis  

Years Funded: 2021-2023 

4R Questions Addressed: Rate, Source, and Place  

Dr. Brown’s fluid project is designed to: 

  • Determine the extent and causes of in-field K variability 
  • Develop cost-effective methods to identify areas of differential K demand 
  • Development of optimized K- fertilization sources and strategies, including site-specific fertilization strategies suited to the modern fertigated orchard context