University of Manitoba research agronomist Kristen MacMillan discusses nodulation and nitrogen fixation in dry beans in front of her research plots in Carman, Man., in late July 2025. Photo: Don Norman

Lower nitrogen rates in dry beans could pay off for farmers

Manitoba trials test whether farmers can apply less nitrogen to dry beans without losing yield, despite their typically poor nitrogen-fixing capacity

Manitoba research is testing whether reduced nitrogen fertilizer in dry beans can maintain yields while cutting costs and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.



anhydrous tanks

Cutting the nitrous oxide emissions without losing yields

Better nitrogen management promises to both protect crop yields and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer; new research looks to verify how much difference it actually makes

Better nitrogen management promises to both protect crop yields and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer. New research looks to verify how much difference it actually makes.


a handful of granular fertilizer for crops

Rethinking nitrogen efficiency

Tracking nitrogen with stable isotopes offers surprising insights into fertilizer uptake, loss, and management strategies

Understanding how much nitrogen actually gets taken up by plants is key to improving efficiency—both for profitability and sustainability.



Relative to cows, sheep or goats, horses are much more tolerant, but not immune, to the effects of high nitrate levels in feed.

Nitrogen, nitrates and nitrites

Know the names and natures of the nutritious and noxious

Nitrogen goes makes up 80 per cent of the air that we breathe in the form of a very stable N2 gas. In my several years at university I majored in chemistry and my work on nitrogen was intensive, from its biological role to its key role in almost all military explosives. Nitrogen is one […] Read more

nitrogen nodules on faba beans

Nitrogen-fixing biologicals fall short at field level

Challenges remain for products to achieve their hoped-for potential

Glacier FarmMedia — Dave Franzen is a straight shooter. If he doesn’t know the answer, the North Dakota State University soil scientist will admit it; if he does, he’ll tell you. As an example, in the summer of 2022 researchers from land grant universities across the north-central U.S. studied commercially available, biological nitrogen-fixing products to […] Read more