What can be done to reduce your risks on cotton? Management of the crop is the key to reducing risk. Nutrition/fertilization management involves knowing your soils, soil testing, utilizing technology available, controlling plant populations, and all other variables over which you have some degree of control. One of the most important things omitted by many producers is maintenance of accurate records. Useful records include annual yields of cotton and of rotational crops, fertilizer application history, fertilizer used, and nutrient off-take by all crops. Not keeping records of this type causes you to waste money in over-fertilizing, under-fertilizing, not using the technology available at present and not making the crop yields you should make. There are many factors we have no control over in a crop year; however, most farmers do not adequately apply corrective measures to factors which they do have a chance to control. It has been stated, "If you watch the pennies, the dollars will take care of themselves." I fear that the average cotton farmer is a "dollar" farmer when fertilization is considered. Too many farmers and professionals take too few soil samples, take improper samples, make "shotgun" recommendations and use fertilizer promiscuously. Other factors related to nutrient management are tillage and soil tilth.