Wisconsin DATCP Awards $800K for Nitrogen Research Grants

Wednesday, March 12, 2025

The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) has awarded grants to nine projects under the 2025 Commercial Nitrogen Optimization Pilot Program (NOPP).

These grants aim to advance research on optimizing commercial nitrogen application in agricultural fields, thereby safeguarding soil and water resources.

“Thanks to the Governor and legislature’s leadership, the NOPP program staff, and the ongoing work of producers around the state, important research continues to be conducted on the use of nitrogen in agriculture,” said DATCP Secretary Randy Romanski. “The research being carried out through this program is supporting Wisconsin farmers as they develop best practices for applying commercial nitrogen to their fields and helps Wisconsin remain a leader in sustainability.”

The NOPP encourages agricultural producers to develop and test innovative nitrogen application methods over at least two growing seasons.

Grantees must collaborate with a University of Wisconsin (UW) System institution for on-site monitoring and field studies.

The program allowed for collaborative applications, with individual producers eligible for up to $40,000. The UW System will receive up to 20% of the awarded funds for monitoring and research support. The application period closed on January 17, 2025, with DATCP receiving 13 applications requesting over $1.15 million.

The grant recipients, totaling $800,000, and their projects are:

Joe Ailts ($14,441): Investigating the impact of seed-applied mycorrhizal fungi on corn nitrogen use efficiency.
Cranberry Creek Farms/Nicole Hansen ($40,000): Conducting a nitrogen application timing study in Wisconsin cranberry marshes.
Farmers for Tomorrow River Watershed ($64,357): Completing a field-scale corn nitrogen-rate study on irrigated and non-irrigated loamy sands.
Jim Hebbe ($28,726): Evaluating maximum return to nitrogen (MRTN) rates for corn grain after manure application.
InDepth Agronomy/Ted Hoffman ($79,972): Completing corn nitrogen rate validation for eastern Wisconsin soils.
Michael Fields Agriculture Institute ($280,945): Quantifying nitrogen credits of legume-dominated cover crop mixtures.
Tom Novak ($131,595): Evaluating MRTN rates (low and medium) vs. high yield environments.
Red Cedar Conservation Farmers ($80,000): Analyzing landscape position effect on optimum nitrogen rates.
James Stute ($79,964): Determining if "priming" rye with applied nitrogen will change the optimum nitrogen rate of no-till corn.