202 Crop Removal + Build Formulas
Running 02, 03, and 04 Formula Groups
Written by Regan Heine
Updated at July 15th, 2025
Table of Contents
Running P & K Formulas
All three formula groups support phosphorus and potassium removal—whether you're running prescriptions based on a single nutrient or a blended product.
VRAFY is compatible with most crops that support yield monitoring, allowing you to generate variable-rate prescriptions from actual or expected yield data.
In addition to standard removal formulas, VRAFY also includes:
Removal + Build options for long-term fertility strategies
Removal + & R+B for Liquid for use with liquid fertilizer systems. (Ask VRAFY Staff for Liquid Formulas)
This gives you flexibility to match your fertility program to your product type, crop, and yield goals.
02 Crop Removal +
Crop Removal Prescriptions calculate how much phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) are removed from the soil by a given crop based on yield, then generate a variable-rate fertilizer recommendation to replace those nutrients.
These formulas are similar to the ones in VRAFY Basic, just adds a yield factor, and does not autorun.
Yield Adjustment Factor – Variable
The Yield Adjustment Factor allows you to fine-tune how aggressively you replace nutrients removed by your crop.
By default, crop removal formulas calculate fertilizer rates to exactly match what was removed based on yield. However, by increasing the Yield Adjustment Factor, you can intentionally over-apply a percentage of nutrients to help build soil fertility over time—even without a recent soil test.
Stover Removal
If you bale and remove stover from your fields (such as corn stalks, wheat straw, or other residue), you can manually account for that nutrient loss in your removal formulas.
Simply enter your estimated stover yield (in tons/acre) in the “Tons Per Acre Stover” field within the Variables section.
Soybean + Wheat Removal/ Corn + Soybeans
Double-Crop Systems
If you’re growing crops like wheat followed by soybeans, the formulas can use both wheat and soybean yield data to calculate total nutrient removal and recommend a combined rate.
Two-Year Corn/Soybean Rotations
If you only apply fertilizer every other year (e.g., in the fall prior to corn), the formulas can look at yield data from the past two seasons—both corn and soybeans—to calculate nutrient removal across the full rotation.
Crops Supported:
- Alfalfa
- Barley
- Canola
- Corn + Soybean
- Corn
- Corn Silage
- Cotton(lbs)
- Edible Beans
- Grain Sorghum/Milo
- Millet
- Oat
- Rice
- Rye
- Soybean + Wheat
- Soybean
- Sunflower(Conf)
- Wheat
03 Crop Removal + Build
02/04 Combined – Crop Removal + Soil Build
Combines Crop Removal and Soil Build into one formula
Builds soil PPM and replaces nutrients removed by last harvest
Just select the last harvested crop
Fertilizer Options:
P: DAP, MAP, MESZ, Blends
K: Potash, Blends
VARS
Yield Adjustment Factor - Works the same as Crop Removal +; change percentage if you want to influence yield map.
Target PPM - Enter you desired PPM
Blend Percent (if applicable) - Blend formulas only, refer to the Callout at bottom of article for blends.
Tons per Acre Stover (if applicable) - Enter in estimated Tons per acre stover if applicable.
Enter 1 for Grain Only (if applicable) - Enter 0 if you removed stover off field. Wheat formulas use this.
Layers List
Soil Tests (K, P, P Mehlich 3, P Bray 1, P Olsen)
Yield - Last harvested crop
Why is there multiple P Soil Layers Available to Choose?
All of our P formulas can read Mehlich 3, Olsen, Bray 1, or generic soil P. You should only have ONE soil layer selected.
Why is there multiple crop types Available to Choose in the Variables?
Crops like wheat have multiple different crop types. At VRAFY, you have the ability to run the formula whether it was Hard Red Spring, or Durum for example. You will only have one crop type to use in your case, but the option is there to have different crop types depending on what crop you select when you harvest.
Crops Supported (Solid Fert)
- Alfalfa
- Corn + Soybean
- Corn Only
- Corn Silage
- Cotton(lbs)
- Edible Bean
- Grain Sorghum
- Millet
- Milo
- Oat
- Rice
- Rye
- Soybean + Wheat
- Soybean Only
- Sunflower
- Wheat Only
Crops Supported (Liquid Fert)
- Corn
- Cotton
- Edible Beans
- Grain Sorghum
- Millet
- Milo
- Oat
- Rice
- Rye
- Soybean
- Sunflower
- Wheat
04 Soil Only - P & K Builds
04 Soil-Only Builds Group
The 04 Soil-Only Builds group is designed to generate fertilizer prescriptions based solely on soil test data. These formulas do not factor in crop yield or nutrient removal from harvest.
This group is ideal for:
- Growers without reliable yield monitor data
- Fields with non-grain crops or forage systems
Soil-building programs based purely on target soil test levels
If you want to factor in yield-based crop removal, please use the:
- 02 Crop Removal Only group (based on yield alone)
- 03 Removal + Build group (combines yield removal + soil building)
Potassium (K)
Our platform supports both Base Saturation (BS%)-based and PPM-based potassium build formulas. You can choose the method that best fits your soil type and management approach:
Base Saturation Builds
- Recommended target: 4–8% K base saturation
- Best for: Medium to low CEC soils
- Requires a Target K BS% input
PPM-Based Builds
- Better suited for soils with high CEC (greater than 30)
- Focuses on achieving a target soil test potassium level in PPM
- Use when BS% is difficult to shift due to high buffering capacity
- Requires a Target K PPM input
Reminder: Blend Percent K should reflect the total actual K₂O in your fertilizer blend, not the product ratio.
Phosphorous (P)
PPM-Based Builds
-
VRAFY has formulas build for MESZ, DAP, and Map
- All you have to do is enter your disired PPM.
- Different product or in a blend?
- Just use the blend %P and enter the total actual P205 in your blend.
Note About Blends(P+K)
If running the blend formulas, here are some callouts.
- The formula calculates total blend needed for P and total blend needed for K, then returns the higher of the two to ensure your fertilizer blend fully covers the greater removal need.
- If you're using a two-bin applicator and want to variable-rate phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) separately, create an individual prescription for each nutrient. Then, assign each prescription to its corresponding bin within your equipment setup.
-
If you're applying a custom blend that contains phosphorus but no potassium (such as a product that's not straight MAP, DAP, or MESZ), you can still use this formula.
- To do so, simply set the Potassium Blend % variable to 100. This tells the system to ignore the potassium side of the equation and calculate the prescription based solely on phosphorus removal.
- When entering Blend Percent P and Blend Percent K, these values refer to the actual nutrient content of the total blend—not the product ratios.
- For example, if your blend is:
- 60% MAP (11-52-0)
- 40% Potash (0-0-60)
- You would enter:
- 31.2 for Blend Percent P (60% of MAP × 52% P₂O₅ = 31.2)
- 24 for Blend Percent K (40% of Potash × 60% K₂O = 24)
- For example, if your blend is:
