With the current cost differential per unit of Nitrogen applied favoring ammonia this year, many farmers are thinking about switching to ammonia. 

We are seeing a big swing to ammonia knives in our orders from our distributors for fall of 2009.  The savings compared to liquid fertilizer is nearly 50%, but using ammonia creates issues that the farmer needs to address:

1.        Safety—if you haven’t used ammonia for several years, make sure you are re-trained on the safety aspects

2.       Toolbar equipment—making sure you have modern cold flow systems and current monitors.  You may need sealer attachments or knives with on-board sealers to keep the NH3 in the ground

3.       Knives—make sure that you have fertilizer knives that will handle the ammonia and secondary tubes if needed for adding P, K and other nutrients in liquid form.   Getting these components right can eliminate a lot of problems with freezup and poor distribution of liquid products.

Shield Ag has expanded  our product line to move with the market.  You can see our products by clicking on this link    http://www.shieldag.com/pdf_files/Fertilizer%20Catalog%202009.pdf