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Promoting Your Precision Sampling Services

Quality crop fertility recommendations start in the field with collecting quality soil samples. Getting customers to value your precision soil sampling service can be a challenge in a world when ‘quick and cheap’ drives ‘value’. Crop input manufacturers educate & demonstrate the value of a new technology through field trials.  The same approach can be taken with precision soil sampling by conducting a soil sampling field trial/research project to demonstrate the value of accurate, precision soil sampling.  The project could serve to as good topic for summer field days, winter meetings and in training students/staff.
Project ideas:

• Effect of soil consistent sampling depth: Comparing samples of standard soil depth 0-6” to 0-5”, 0-8”, etc. Our experience has shown how even a 1-inch difference can affect results
• Value of Site-specific sampling: Sample in a specific area (per sample) you can go back to. E.g. radius of 20 m. Compare that to samples collected nearby.
• Correct mixing of sample: If you send to the lab all the soil cores that make up a sample, compare that to collected soil cores that are mixed and sub-sampled. Another comparison is comparing sub-samples pulled from adequately mixed/ inadequate mixing
• Demonstrating nutrient stratification and what this means in terms of soil sampling practices and 4R. Example:  0-3, 3-6, 6-9, 9-12 and 12- 24-inch sampling depths

Record the area, time of year, previous three crops grown, cropping system (mechanical disturbance of soil).
We would like to hear about your results, share our results with you and compare them with other areas, other results.