Want to know how a fertilizer management product or tool might perform on your farm?

The Technology Extrapolation Domains (TEDs) Geospatial Framework can help! Learn more about TEDs and the TED Tool below.

Why TEDs?

Farmers and their agricultural advisers have little way of knowing which fertilizer management products and tools perform as advertised without potentially costly, time-consuming trial and error. Research trials can help, but it is difficult to interpret the results of a trial beyond the specific location where that trial was conducted.

Want to know if a research trial conducted somewhere in Ohio is relevant to your farm in Iowa? TEDs can help you do that.

TEDs group places where long-term climatic conditions and soil properties are similar. These are the conditions that have the biggest impact on crop growth and the effectiveness of nutrient management products and tools. The TED Framework thus provides a powerful platform for decision-making about nutrient management.

Note that annual seasonal weather variation greatly affects tool and product performance. Therefore users should view trial results within the TED framework as most relevant on average over the long-term, rather than for any given growing season.

The TED concept was developed by Drs. Ken Cassman, Justin Van Wart, Patricio Grassini, Juan I. Rattalino Edreira and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for the Global Yield Gap Atlas.

What is the TED Tool?

The TED Tool is an interactive geospatial framework that you can use to see if research trials were conducted in a region with a climate and soils combination similar to your own. Start using the Interactive TED Tool now! Or keep reading to learn more about how the TED tool can support your decision-making about fertilizer management tools and products.

The TED Tool meets the needs of farmers, crop advisers, and researchers.

Farmers
If you are a farmer, you can view results of research trials for nutrient management products and tools to see if trials were conducted in a location with similar climate and soils to your own. This can help you decide whether or not there is good evidence that a product or tool has worked well in a location that approximates the conditions you experience on your farm.

Crop Advisers/
Agricultural Service Providers
If you are a crop adviser or agricultural service provider, you can provide support to your clients by seeing if research trials were conducted in a location with similar climate and soils to where your clients are farming.

Researchers
If you conduct agricultural research, the TED Tool can help you plan. For example, you might want to consider conducting research in a variety of TEDs to capture varying climate and soils conditions. The tool also allows you to see which TEDs are associated with trials you have already conducted.
Learn how to use the TED Tool step-by-step.
Download a printable version of the tutorial.
Ready to put the TED Tool to work?