AGRISUITE: Introducing PLATO

Phosphorus is an essential element for plant and animal growth and is necessary to maintain profitable crop and livestock production.

 

Balancing your crop’s fertility needs is complex.  Let AgriSuite help you make decisions.

 

The Phosphorus Loss Assessment tool for Ontario (PLATO) is new to AgriSuite.  The PLATO calculator helps determine the risk of field scale phosphorus loss as it relates to site specific characteristics and management practices. An overview of this tool can be found at https://youtu.be/GAJ_I0NsrJ8

 

or a more in-depth step-by-step guide to using PLATO can be found at https://youtu.be/mCbUlacTkus

 

AgriSuite is an interactive online collection of management tools and calculators, developed by OMAFRA that you can access from your desktop or mobile device. AgriSuite assists you with key crop fertilization management decisions and how they relate to optimizing crop production while protecting

the environment.

 

Phosphorus is an important plant nutrient for crop production, but it can also contribute to environmental problems when it ends up in rivers, lakes and streams.

 

Work with PLATO to improve phosphorus management

How phosphorus is applied, how much is applied, when it’s applied and whether it’s sourced from fertilizer or organic amendments like manure, are all decisions you make when fertilizing a crop. Use PLATO for all, or just one, of your fields to compare results of various management decisions on phosphorus availability to your crops and the risk of phosphorus loss from the field.  PLATO will help you manage phosphorus better because it factors in:

Other AgriSuite calculators that can help with your crop fertility needs are:

When used in conjunction the AgriSuite calculators provide valuable farm/field planning and record-keeping information.