Taking care of the soil is one of the most important things a farmer can do to ensure his or her operation is successful.

That was the sentiment shared last week at crop connect by guest speaker Neal Kinsey of Kinsey agricultural services.

Kinsey says the key to saving money on fertilizer is to treat the soil, rather than treating the plant.

"When we start looking at the soil what we are trying to do is then make sure that if a farmer has enough of a given nutrient we skip that and go on to the next one this way a farmer can take their same fertilizer budget not spend any more money and go further down the list of the things that they would normally say 'oh I can't afford that I got to put all this other on'."

He notes it's also important to balance the elements in the soil, as a chain reaction is created when there is too much of any one nutrient.

Kinsey says the best way to find out what's in the soil is to do a detailed soil analysis and to verify it with plant testing.