Split application cost-share offers final year of funding

QUEENSTOWN, Md. — Cost-share is available to farmers interested in adding an additional split to their nitrogen application on their 2023 corn crop.
The Mid-Atlantic 4R Nutrient Stewardship Association and agribusiness partners will work directly with producers in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed for the third and final year of this grant opportunity.
Farmers who apply an additional split of nitrogen and leave a control strip with the same total poundage will be eligible for a $15 an acre incentive payment. 
Funding is provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund.
The Mid-Atlantic 4R Nutrient Stewardship Alliance was awarded a three-year grant for education, training, and cost-share to increase the implementation of 4R Nutrient Stewardship practices.
Participating farmers can enroll a minimum of 40 acres or as much as 400 acres and must plant a control strip in fields they use the cost-share funds for split application.
The 4R Alliance requires past crop and yield data as well as 2023 corn yield checks to analyze and compare results. Data collected over the three-year grant will be compiled for a published case study. 
In 2021, five Maryland farms participated and had an average yield increase of 19.2 bushels per acre where they use an additional split to their nitrogen applications versus all of it upfront.
Of the 11 participating farms in Pennsylvania, farmers saw an average yield increase of 17.6 bushels per acre and a 12 percent increase in nitrogen use efficiency.
To enroll or get more information, contact Eric Rosenbaum for Pennsylvania at 484-788-7263 or e-mail him at ericrosenbaum@rosetreeconsulting.com.
For Delaware and Maryland contact Jenell Eck McHenry at 443-262-6969 or jenell.mdag@gmail.com. Sign-up is encouraged by April 1.