Sentinel Fertigation is a start-up company based in Lincoln, Nebraska that uses satellite imagery to provide real-time nitrogen management recommendations to farmers throughout the growing season.

The N-Time™ Fertigation Management System not only allow farmers to operate more efficiently, but also help to minimize groundwater nitrate contamination occurring in various areas of Nebraska.

 Jackson Stansell, CEO and Founder of Sentinel Fertigation, came to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2019 to complete a master’s degree in the Department of Biological Systems Engineering. Under the direction of Joe Luck, associate professor in the department, Stansell joined a project and developed a software – N-Time™ Fertigation Management System - that provides real-time nitrogen application scheduling recommendations based on satellite imagery.

 Simply stated, N-Time™ analyzes and identifies the best time to apply nitrogen via fertigation on corn fields to increase farmers’ efficiency while reducing environmental impacts.

 Nitrogen is one of the most essential nutrients in crop production, Luck said.

 The most efficient way to apply nitrogen to the crop is through fertigation. Luck described fertigation as a technique that applies fertilizer to crops through an irrigation system. However, he further said that overuse of nitrogen and irrigation water can lead to groundwater contamination. Finding the balance is the key to success.

 Stansell and Luck conducted on-farm research trials and collected data indicate that 100% of farmers increased nitrogen use efficiency with Sentinel Fertigation.

 Finding a way to use nitrogen more efficiently is critical to Nebraska because it is not only the most heavily irrigated state in the United States, but it also has critical groundwater resources that must be protected. Improving nitrogen application would not only improve yields, but also drinking water quality.

Improving Efficiency in Nitrogen Application

Sentinel Fertigation makes farming more efficient and profitable because it allows farmers to fertigate their fields only when needed, lowering input costs.

 Nitrogen is one of the highest cost inputs on farms, Stansell said. Optimizing its use not only increases yield, but also farmers’ profitability.

 The N-Time™ software platform Stansell developed uses two different kinds of satellite images that come in on a daily and weekly basis to provide real-time application scheduling recommendations. These images visualize the crop canopy at resolutions as high as thirty centimeters per pixel.

 “The imagery reports if corn is nitrogen deficient or not,” Luck said. “In real life, yellow corn generally indicates that the plant is lacking nitrogen which would ultimately lead to significant yield loss.”

 On the software, nitrogen-deficient areas are indicated in a lighter color to help farmers see where more nitrogen needs to be applied within the field.

Sentinel Fertigation is Unique

Sentinel Fertigation is the only technology of its kind.

 “There is no other technology on the market that is dedicated to fertigation management from the nitrogen scheduling perspective,” Luck said.

 Compared to other nitrogen management tools, Sentinel Fertigation not only tells farmers when the best time is to apply nitrogen, but the N-Time™ can also isolate nitrogen stress from other stress factors. Luck said this is highly innovative and important for precise scheduling recommendations.

 Further, Stansell said on-farm research from 2019-2021 saw improvement in nitrogen use efficiency in every trial.

 “The technology boosts nitrogen use efficiency by approximately 25%, which ultimately results in about 43 pounds of nitrogen saved per acre,” Stansell said. “With corn and fertilizer prices in 2022, that would have resulted in nearly a $30 savings per acre.” 

Future of Sentinel Fertigation

Sentinel Fertigation continues to improve its software by making the technology available to more farmers, including more crops beyond corn, and increasing the information on nitrogen for crops.

First, N-time™ is currently being used on nearly 8,000 acres in Nebraska and Kansas with the goal to make Sentinel Fertigation accessible to most farmers.

“We seek to meet farmers where they are,” Stansell said.

The team works with and trains certified service provider partners, agronomic specialists who work with farmers individually to find the best way to implement N-Time™ on their farms with the technology that they own.

“Even if farmers have a pumping system for nitrogen that lacks technology advancement, they could still run the software,” Luck said.

Second, Stansell also plans to expand to include additional crops, beyond corn.

“The need for this technology is something that is not just applicable to field corn that we grow in Nebraska,” Luck said.

N-Time™ could also be applied to crops like wheat and potatoes, he said.

 Finally, as of 2023, Sentinel fertigation focuses on when to apply nitrogen. In the future, the start-up also wants to provide recommendations on how much nitrogen farmers need to apply per fertigation event as well.

“The goal of Sentinel Fertigation is to provide software that empowers farmers with precision fertigation management tools and integrates their fertigation data, mobile machinery data and irrigation data in one place,” Stansell said. 

For more information about Sentinel Fertigation, please visit https://www.sentinelfertigation.com/.

Key Takeaways:

1.      Overuse of nitrogen and irrigation water leads to groundwater contamination in Nebraska.

2.      Under the direction of Joe Luck, Jackson Stansell developed N-Time™ Fertigation Management System, a software platform designed to help farmers increase their nitrogen use efficiency and profitability.

3.      Sentinel Fertigation’s core product, N-Time™, uses two different kinds of satellite imagery to give real-time scheduling recommendations throughout the growing season.

4.      The on-farm research trials from 2019 to 2021 showed that farmers who used N-Time™ were able to increase nitrogen use efficiency by an average of 25%.

5.      For more information about Sentinel Fertigation, please visit https://www.sentinelfertigation.com/.