By Farm Progress staff

There is no mystery why companies concentrate on developing well-made tools to handle and apply fertilizer. First, fertilizer is one of the largest expenses on your bottom line. Second, many fertilizer products can be caustic and require well-constructed machinery to both handle and apply them.

Companies handling fertilizer equipment didn’t disappoint those looking for new solutions to fertilizer handling and application methods at this year’s shows. Farm Progress editors turned up several products that are brand-new and ready to be put to use to either handle or apply fertilizer.

Nitrogen remains one of the key nutrients that companies focus on in developing equipment. It’s the leading expense in many corn production budgets. Capstan Ag introduces a tweak with its PinPoint II nitrogen application system, which allows for compensation on turns. You can keep rates constant when you often struggled to do that before.

Salford continues to adapt the technology from Valmar when it comes to air delivery of materials to improve distribution accuracy. They displayed three products that could be used for accurate distribution of applications, including fertilizer. Fertilizer technology has long surpassed the days of the old single, pull-type spreader that many co-ops let you borrow for free, and which were seldom calibrated for accuracy of spread.

Some of the new tools include equipment designed to move fertilizer — and to stand up to the caustic dust and material that generally take their toll on equipment over time.