Fertiliser Focus: The Answers You Need

Chart 1 - £/ha of Fertiliser Over Time.

Considering it’s the most expensive input on your farm, it’s unsurprising that the volatility of fertiliser prices has been a huge talking point.  

Indeed, the average fertiliser costs for producing Winter Wheat (£/ha) increased from £163.97 to £407.84 between 2018 and 2023. Driven by the proportional price of Nitrogen /kg increasing from £0.46 in 2021 to £1.21 in 2023. 
 
Do the visualised price increases in Chart 1 resonate with you? 

Chart 2 - Winter Wheat Fert Application Distribution Across Years

Visualising data and trends is great way to gain a more detailed picture. Chart 2 displays fertiliser application timings across various years.  

Noticeable here is 2018 with steeper, later applications. 2018 saw severe weather throughout Winter and into Spring, which could be the reason for the low Springtime applications, which then caused knock-on effects of higher applications later in the season.  

What influences your fertiliser applications? Do you have defined optimal timings you adhere to?  

Would seeing your farms records as above, and being able to align it with your season and budgets, open avenues for exploration and analysis?

Chart 3 – Cost of Fertiliser by timing & end-use group. 

When considering input requirements and costs, varietal choice is an important cultural consideration.  
 
You’re likely monitoring soil indices, accounting for any variations on your farm and choosing a variety from the Recommended Lists based on the scores important to you.  
 
Looking at the above trends for fertiliser applications to Winter Wheat, split by group, do you see any surprises? 
 
Most fertiliser going on group one’s prior to harvest to fill grain could be predictable. But what about group three’s receiving the most early fert? We know these early applications are mostly organics (Chart 6), so is it potentially a case of applying solids before the physical application can damage crop growth...  

Potential downsides of early fertiliser applications include an inability to assess the full potential and viability of the crop so early in the season, causing some risk to sinking the costs. As opposed to applying later in the year and spending on crops that are showing good signs of returning on that investment.  

Also, as 2024 showed, early fertiliser applications are vulnerable to high rainfall events leading to fears that much could simply wash away.

Chart 4 – Fertiliser type over years by % of fields applied.  

 Have you considered switching between liquid/solid fertiliser?  

According to Chart 4 there has been a decline in single-type fertiliser applications since 2018. Representing a decline on reliance of solid fertiliser alone in 2022, with more farms adopting a mixed approach and fewer sticking to one set formulation.

As seen in Chart 5, the price rise of N is not exclusive to liquid or solid fertilisers but is seen across the board. Although liquid does consistently remain slightly more expensive. 

Do any of these graphs raise your eyebrows or ignite your curiosity? What would your farm records tell you if they were presented visually like this?  

Schedule a free meeting with my colleague James who specialises in providing demos of our software tailored to your farming needs.  
 
Author Note: The term ‘fertiliser’ in this blog is based upon the categorisation of the YAGRO platform. Therefore includes organics, PK products as well as N/NS products. Proportional £/kg calculations throughout take the average proportional price of ingredients against all relevant products in our database. Meaning, for N price, all N-containing fertiliser products will be used within our calculations. This includes products that contain S/P/K, not just AN/Urea, as well as organics.