10 exam-style questions with answers and explanations, straight from our 1,030-question bank. Tap an answer to check yourself. When you're ready, take the scored version in the free practice test.
These 10 free SSP questions are organized by exam domain, so you can see how each part of the Certified Crop Adviser - Sustainability Specialty blueprint is tested. Reveal the answer and explanation under each question.
Domain 1: Sustainability and Nutrient Management
Question 1
A coarse-textured corn field repeatedly loses nitrate below the root zone between preplant fertilization and rapid crop uptake. The N recommendation already accounts for soil and previous-crop credits, and timely sidedressing is feasible. The grower wants to reduce leaching without cutting the economically justified total N rate. Which change most directly addresses the timing of the losses?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B - Apply a modest planting-time N rate and sidedress the remainder near rapid crop uptake.
Question 2
A corn nutrient plan calls for 170 lb N/ac before credits; soil and previous-crop credits supply 50 lb N/ac. Dairy manure contains 40 lb total N and 20 lb P2O5 per 1,000 gallons, but its first-season plant-available N is only 24 lb per 1,000 gallons after application losses. The field may receive no more than 60 lb P2O5/ac, and application conditions are suitable. To use as much of this manure as the phosphorus limit permits while meeting, but not exceeding, the remaining N requirement, select the application plan.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D - 3,000 gal/ac of manure plus 48 lb N/ac from a phosphorus-free fertilizer.
Question 3
Pale, slow-growing corn follows the strips where a heavy wheat-straw residue was incorporated. Adjacent strips without incorporated straw remain green under the same N program. Soil tests show less mineral N in the affected strips, but similar total soil N. Roots are healthy, the soil is well aerated, and water-balance records show no saturation or deep drainage. Which nitrogen process best explains this pattern?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A - Microbial immobilization of mineral N during decomposition of carbon-rich straw.
Domain 2: Sustainability and Soil and Water Management
Question 4
Soybeans show water-stress symptoms even though the root zone is moist. Laboratory results are: saturated-paste electrical conductivity (ECe), 6.8 dS/m; sodium adsorption ratio (SAR), 4; and exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP), 5%. Infiltration is adequate, and suitable low-salinity irrigation water and a managed drainage outlet are available. How should the adviser interpret the problem and select a response?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D - Salinity without sodicity; use managed leaching and drainage to remove excess soluble salts.
Question 5
An irrigation schedule uses root-zone depletion, with irrigation required before depletion exceeds 40 mm. Current depletion is 35 mm. Over the next two days, crop evapotranspiration is expected to total 15 mm; 20 mm of rain is forecast, but only 5 mm is expected to enter and remain in the root zone. The target is to finish that period at 25 mm depletion. Application efficiency is 75%, and other water-balance terms are negligible. Using those planning assumptions, what should the operator do?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C - Apply about 26.7 mm of gross irrigation before the depletion trigger is exceeded.
Question 6
Five years after a switch to no-till, repeated laboratory tests show that organic carbon concentration in the top 5 cm has increased. Samples were collected at the same locations and season, but bulk density was not measured, and no samples were taken from 5 to 30 cm. The grower proposes selling credits for increased carbon storage throughout the 0-to-30-cm profile. What do the measurements actually establish?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D - Surface carbon enrichment, but not a demonstrated increase in whole-profile carbon stock.
Domain 3: Sustainability and Pest Management
Question 7
A Minnesota soybean field at beginning pod has 150 aphids per plant, down from 210 four days earlier. Aphids occur on 90% of plants, and predators are common. The regional treatment threshold through early seed development requires more than 250 aphids per plant, more than 80% of plants infested, and an increasing population. A fungicide application is justified for a separate disease problem, but no other insect pest needs treatment. The grower asks whether to add insecticide to save a later trip. What is the sound IPM recommendation?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A - Leave out the insecticide and continue scouting aphid density and population trend.
Question 8
Three days after a sweet-corn field was treated, the farm manager wants trained employees to scout it today and hand-harvest it tomorrow. The pesticide label specifies a 24-hour restricted-entry interval and a 7-day preharvest interval. No other entry or harvest restrictions apply, and the employer has met the remaining worker-protection requirements. How should the manager revise the schedule without delaying work unnecessarily?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B - Scout today, but do not harvest until the full 7-day preharvest interval has elapsed.
Domain 4: Sustainability and Crop Management
Question 9
Cereal rye has protected a rainfed corn field through winter, but spring soil-water measurements now show a declining reserve. Corn planting is approaching, effective rainfall is not expected, and the rye already has enough biomass to leave protective residue. An effective termination treatment can be used now within its label and planting restrictions. To conserve water for corn without surrendering erosion protection, the next operation should be to:
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C - Terminate the rye now and retain its residue on the soil surface.
Question 10
A grower is comparing a conventional soybean crop yielding 60 bu/ac at $12.00/bu with an identity-preserved contract yielding 58 bu/ac. Every contract bushel is expected to qualify for a $1.20/bu premium above the same $12.00 base price. The contract adds $35/ac for segregation, records, and delivery; all other costs are unchanged. After accounting for both the premium and the yield difference, what change in expected margin should the adviser report?
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A - An increase of $10.60/ac.
That's 10 of 1,030
The full bank has 1,020 more SSP questions with explanations.