A lot of being more efficient with fertilizer also has to do with erosion control and water infiltration. The problem in a lot of your tilled fields is that they have poor soil structure and they form a crust on top……..thus resulting in poor water infiltration……When that happens, then you start getting a lot of runoff…..which then results in your top soil and nutrients also running off with it. A chit load of fertilizer just gets washed into the ditches and streams every year. Erosion is not hard to recognize.

The only way to really correct this issue of run-off, erosion, and nutrient loss is to keep the water from building up steam and running off in the first place……. and instead have it soak up in the ground. This comes through improving the soil structure so that the soil is porous and has air space for water to easily infiltrate through…..It comes through leaving a thatch layer of hay across the top of the soil to take away the energy of the falling rain drops before it hits the soil surface….also to help stop/slow down any surface runoff so that the water has more time to be absorbed and doesn’t cause erosion. If you control where the water goes then you keep your nutrients and topsoil in the field instead of the ditch.