An Economic Evaluation of Nitrogen Fertilization of Grasses When Carry‐over is Significant

An economic model is developed to determine optimal nitrogen fertilization policies for seeded grasses in semiarid regions where nitrogen carry‐over is significant. The problem is cast in the framework of stochastic dynamic programming and an application of the model is made at two sites in the Nothern Great Plains. A new statistical method was used to estimate carry‐over nitrogen and the forage yield‐response function simultaneously. Nitrogen carry‐over was estimated implicitly through yield response without direct measurements of nitrogen.