Introduction to Fertilizer Planning for Beginning Farmers

Jan 19, 2021

By Jon LaPorte

As a young or beginning farmer, you may be raising crops to reduce feed costs or to sell on the market. One of the important decisions in crop production is deciding how much fertilizer you should apply. Fertilizer application focuses on meeting the nutrient needs of the crop you’ll grow. Apply too much fertilizer and potential profits are reduced. Apply too little fertilizer and there is not enough production. To meet the nutrient needs and produce a profitable crop, you’ll need to create a fertilizer plan.

The latest publication from the Michigan State University Extension Beginning Farmers DEMaND series explores the process of creating a fertilizer plan and how it can help reduce the impacts to revenue. This includes spending some time understanding the soil and the available nutrients within it. You’ll also learn about the available forms of fertilizer and the methods of applying them to the soil. Using the information collected from both the soil and the available fertilizer options, you’ll begin to create a fertilizer plan for the farm. And finally, understand what the costs are in the plan and their impacts on farm revenue.

Source : msu.edu

Video: Understanding the Basics of the Renewable Fuel Standard

On Friday, April 24, 2026, from 12 noon–1:00 ET, the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law, alongside the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s (PDA) Agricultural Business Development Center (ABDC), presented this webinar in the Understanding Agricultural Law Educational Series, a course designed to develop subject matter literacy and competence on fundamental issues of agricultural law for attorneys and business advisors who work with or represent agricultural or rural clients but may not necessarily specialize in agricultural law:

“Understanding the Basics of the Renewable Fuel Standard”

The Clean Air Act’s Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program requires transportation fuel sold in the United States to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels such as ethanol, biodiesel, or advanced biofuels. Established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and later expanded by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the RFS is implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in collaboration with the Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

This webinar provides an overview of the legal authority and structure for the RFS program and explain how it works, including the program’s system of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) and categories of renewable fuels. Additionally, this webinar addresses EPA annual volume requirement rulemaking and associated recent legal issues.