AN ECONOMIC COMPARISON OF BATCH AND ANNUAL PHOSPHORUS FERTILIZER APPLICATIONS IN WHEAT PRODUCTION IN WESTERN CANADA

Abstract

A single batch application of phosphorus once in several years might be a more economical practice for wheat production in Western Canada than the traditional annual application at seeding time. Annual phosphorus applications and batch applications once every 8 yr were compared. Response functions were estimated for annual applications for two locations in Saskatchewan and two in Manitoba. The response functions were used to determine the optimum application rates at each location. These optimums were compared with the profitability of the batch application to determine the economic optimum phosphorus application strategy. Three wheat/fertilizer price ratios were used in the analysis to examine the effect of changes in relative prices. The 100-kg batch application was economically preferred to annual applications for all three price ratios at three of the four locations. Only at Swift Current, Saskatchewan was the batch application not economically justified. The 100-kg batch application was economically superior to the 200-kg application at all locations studied.