Reviewed September 2026 against USDA NASS/University of Illinois farmdoc daily, U.S. EPA Report on the Environment, IndexBox, Business Analytiq and World Bank fertilizer price data.

Try it: Run your own numbers →

What Is Calcium Ammonium Nitrate?

Calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) is a granular nitrogen fertilizer made by coating or blending ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃) with calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) or dolomitic limestone. The standard commercial grade carries 27% nitrogen — split roughly evenly between nitrate-N and ammonium-N — plus around 8% calcium, according to fertilizer industry composition standards (Loyal Fertilizer, calcium ammonium nitrate vs ammonium nitrate). The calcium carbonate buffers the fertilizer’s acidifying effect and makes the granules safer to store and handle than straight ammonium nitrate, which is why CAN is sold as an agricultural product in markets where pure ammonium nitrate faces security-driven restrictions.

In the U.S. market, CAN is one of several nitrogen sources competing with urea, UAN solution, and ammonium sulfate for a share of the roughly 14.9 million metric tons of nitrogen fertilizer the country consumed in 2022, per International Fertilizer Association data cited in University of Illinois farmdoc daily’s trends analysis. That figure covers all nitrogen forms combined — the farmdoc analysis and USDA do not break out CAN’s specific share of U.S. nitrogen tonnage, so if you need CAN’s U.S. market share specifically, that disaggregation is not publicly published; the closest proxy is asking your regional co-op or retailer what percentage of their nitrogen tonnage moves as CAN versus urea or UAN in your area.

Florida Fertilizer Ban: 7 Rules to Save Indian River Lagoon & Stop Algae Blooms.

Is Calcium Ammonium Nitrate the Same as Ammonium Nitrate?

No. Straight ammonium nitrate is roughly 34% nitrogen with no calcium carbonate buffer, while calcium ammonium nitrate is diluted with limestone or dolomite down to about 27% nitrogen and carries roughly 8% calcium. That dilution is the entire point: pure ammonium nitrate is an oxidizer capable of explosive decomposition under confinement and heat, which is why many countries restrict its sale, storage, and transport for agricultural use — see Farmonaut’s separate breakdown of ammonium nitrate’s industrial and explosive uses for that distinction. CAN’s calcium carbonate coating reduces this hazard profile substantially, which is why it is classified and sold differently from straight ammonium nitrate in most jurisdictions, including typically lighter transport and storage requirements.

Agronomically, the two behave differently as well. Ammonium nitrate’s higher nitrogen concentration means fewer pounds of product per pound of nitrogen delivered, but it supplies no calcium and no acid-buffering capacity. CAN’s calcium carbonate content actively works against soil acidification from the ammonium fraction, whereas ammonium nitrate’s ammonium component contributes to acidification over repeated seasons with no offsetting calcium. If your program already manages soil pH separately through lime applications, straight ammonium nitrate’s nitrogen-per-dollar can be more efficient; if you want the buffering built in, CAN carries that as a structural feature rather than a separate input. For yield-boosting use cases specific to ammonium nitrate itself, see Farmonaut’s guide on ammonium nitrate fertilizer’s yield-boosting uses.

Calcium Ammonium Nitrate vs Calcium Nitrate

CAN and calcium nitrate share a name element but serve different purposes. Calcium ammonium nitrate is a solid granular product built around ammonium nitrate, intended for broadcast or banded soil application on field crops. Calcium nitrate is a separate, highly soluble salt — roughly 15.5% nitrogen (all nitrate-form, no ammonium) — used mainly in fertigation, hydroponics, and foliar programs for high-value crops, per industry composition data (Loyal Fertilizer).

The practical difference for a grower deciding between them: calcium nitrate dissolves fully and moves through drip lines or spray tanks without residue, making it the standard choice for correcting calcium deficiencies fast — blossom end rot in tomatoes, for instance, responds to calcium nitrate foliar or fertigation treatment far quicker than a soil-applied granular product could act (see Farmonaut’s guide to blossom end rot treatments). CAN, by contrast, is not formulated for solution use — it is a soil-applied granule aimed at broadacre nitrogen supply with a secondary calcium and pH benefit, not a rapid-correction tool. If your question is “which one fixes a calcium deficiency symptom I can already see on the plant this week,” that is calcium nitrate’s job, not CAN’s.

Calcium Ammonium Nitrate 27: What the Number Means

“Calcium ammonium nitrate 27” refers to the standard grade’s nitrogen analysis — 27% total nitrogen, the figure printed on the bag as the first number in the N-P-K-style label (27-0-0 for straight CAN, since it carries no phosphorus or potassium). That 27% splits into approximately 13.5% nitrate-nitrogen and 13.5% ammonium-nitrogen, giving the fertilizer both an immediately plant-available fraction (nitrate) and a soil-retained fraction (ammonium) in a single granule, per fertilizer industry composition standards (Loyal Fertilizer). The remaining roughly 8% of the product weight is calcium, delivered as carbonate.

Because CAN’s nitrogen concentration (27%) sits well below urea’s 46% or ammonium nitrate’s 34%, a grower comparing bagged or bulk pricing per ton needs to normalize to price-per-pound-of-nitrogen before concluding CAN is cheaper or more expensive than an alternative — a lower per-ton price does not necessarily mean a lower cost per pound of actual nitrogen delivered. The calculator further down this page does that normalization directly from the figures cited here.

Calcium Ammonium Nitrate Market: Production, Pricing, and U.S. Demand Context

Market research firm IndexBox estimated global calcium ammonium nitrate consumption at 58 million tons, worth about $23 billion, in 2024, and projects 62 million tons by 2035 (IndexBox, September 2025). Other research firms publish very different totals, so treat any market-size figure as one firm’s estimate. Business Analytiq’s North American CAN index stood at US$0.27 per kg (about $270 per metric ton) in September 2026, unchanged on the month, with Europe at US$0.26 and Northeast Asia at US$0.25 per kg (Business Analytiq CAN price index). That September 2026 quote is a single snapshot in a market that moves with natural gas costs (ammonia’s primary feedstock), seasonal application demand, and freight — Business Analytiq’s dashboard updates its regional spot quotes on a rolling basis, so check that index directly for the current North American price rather than treating $270/ton as fixed.

What is not publicly available is a like-for-like U.S. price comparison across CAN, straight ammonium nitrate, urea, and calcium nitrate on the same date — the Business Analytiq figure above covers CAN alone, and no single published source in our research tracked all four side by side for the U.S. market. If you need that comparison for a purchasing decision, the practical method is pulling current quotes from your regional co-op or retailer for all four products on the same day, since regional freight and local supply can shift relative pricing by more than the products’ underlying nitrogen-content difference would suggest.

On the demand side, total U.S. fertilizer consumption across all nutrients stood at 22.0 million tons in 2015, with nitrogen accounting for 59% of that volume, per the U.S. EPA’s Report on the Environment (EPA ROE, nitrogen fertilizer indicator). U.S. nitrogen application rates across all crops peaked at 83.6 lbs/acre/year in 2013 per the same EPA tracker — a ceiling that contextualizes the 151.8 lbs/acre corn trend rate from farmdoc daily, since that number is corn’s rate alone, not an all-crop average. The EPA indicator page was last updated in October 2023, so its series runs well behind current use.

Canada Fertilizer Boom: Green Ammonia, AI Precision & $2.3B Granular Surge.

Comparison Table: CAN, Calcium Nitrate, Ammonium Nitrate, UAN

The table below puts the four nitrogen sources most often confused with each other side by side on composition and handling — the specifics an AI-generated summary tends to flatten into vague comparisons.

Nitrogen-Cost Calculator: Compare CAN, AN, Urea, and Calcium Nitrate

Bag or bulk price per ton is meaningless until you normalize it to cost per pound of actual nitrogen delivered — enter your local quotes below to see which source is actually cheapest for the nitrogen you need.

Assumptions: calculates nitrogen cost from the product’s nitrogen percentage only — it does not price in calcium value, freight, application cost, or price breaks for bulk volume. The default price ($230/ton) is a placeholder; Business Analytiq’s North American CAN index read US$0.27/kg, about $270 per metric ton, in September 2026 (Business Analytiq). Replace it with your current local quote, since spot prices move with natural gas costs and season. The default rate (151.8 lbs N/acre) is the 2024 trend estimate for U.S. corn from USDA NASS data via University of Illinois farmdoc daily — replace it with your target rate for other crops (the 2024 wheat trend estimate is 77.15 lbs/acre from the same source).

Applying CAN in U.S. Field Crops

CAN’s granular form and neutral-to-mildly-basic soil effect make it suited to broadcast or banded application ahead of planting or as a sidedress on row crops, and to top-dressing on small grains and forage. Its two-form nitrogen release means the nitrate fraction is available to the crop within days of application while the ammonium fraction persists in the soil for a longer uptake window, reducing the number of split applications needed compared to a straight-nitrate product.

No U.S. land-grant university or USDA source in our current research specifies a recommended CAN application rate by crop — published nitrogen-rate guidance in the U.S. is typically expressed as a target total-nitrogen rate per crop (like the 151.8 lbs N/acre corn and 77.15 lbs N/acre wheat 2024 trend estimates from farmdoc daily), leaving the grower to back-calculate the product rate from whichever nitrogen source they choose. To get a CAN-specific rate for your crop and soil, use your state land-grant extension’s nitrogen recommendation tool or your certified crop adviser, then convert the total-N recommendation into tons of 27-0-0 product using the calculator above.

Regulatory treatment of CAN for agricultural use also differs from straight ammonium nitrate — the calcium carbonate content generally exempts CAN from the stricter storage and sale reporting requirements that apply to high-nitrogen ammonium nitrate in some states, though a documented state-by-state comparison of these thresholds was not available in our research. Growers should confirm current requirements with their state department of agriculture before storing bulk quantities of either product.

Canada Fertilizer Boom: Zero-Waste Granules, Green Ammonia & Precision AgTech Revolution.

How Much CAN to Apply, and What the Nitrogen Costs

Extension advice gives a nitrogen rate, not a CAN rate. To turn one into the other, divide the nitrogen rate by 0.27.

Worked example for corn. The 2024 trend estimate for U.S. corn is 151.8 lb of nitrogen per acre (farmdoc daily). Supplying all of it as CAN takes 151.8 ÷ 0.27 = about 562 lb of product per acre (about 255 kg). For wheat, at 77.15 lb N per acre, the figure is about 286 lb of CAN per acre.

Cost per pound of nitrogen. Business Analytiq’s North American CAN index read US$0.27 per kg in September 2026, or about $270 per metric ton (Business Analytiq). One metric ton of CAN holds 270 kg (595 lb) of nitrogen, so the nitrogen costs about $0.45 per lb. At the corn rate above, that is roughly $69 of product per acre before freight and spreading.

Against urea. The World Bank’s international urea benchmark averaged $390 per metric ton in August 2026 (World Bank Pink Sheet). At 46% N, that works out to about $0.38 per lb of nitrogen. The two prices are not on the same basis (an export benchmark versus a regional index), so use them only as a rough guide and compare local quotes on the same day.

Split the total across pre-plant and sidedress passes if your extension service recommends it, and cut the rate where a soil nitrate test or manure credit shows nitrogen is already there.

Nitrogen Use Efficiency: The Trend Behind the Fertilizer Choice

Whichever nitrogen source a grower picks, the efficiency trend it feeds into is measurable. U.S. corn production required 1.06 lbs of nitrogen per bushel produced in 2002; by 2024 that figure had fallen to 0.85 lbs of nitrogen per bushel — a 20% efficiency improvement over that 22-year span, according to USDA NASS data analyzed by University of Illinois farmdoc daily (farmdoc daily, trends in fertilizer use and efficiency). That gain reflects a combination of better hybrids, more precise rate-setting, and split or enhanced-efficiency application — not any single fertilizer product switch, so no source in our research attributes a specific share of that 20% to CAN, ammonium nitrate, or any other individual nitrogen form.

This is the durable checklist a grower can apply regardless of which product they choose or what prices do next season:

• Match total nitrogen rate to a current recommendation — pull the latest crop-specific rate from USDA NASS QuickStats (nass.usda.gov/quickstats) or your state extension, not last season’s number.
• Normalize price to cost-per-pound-of-nitrogen before comparing products, as the calculator above does — a lower per-ton price can still be a higher nitrogen cost.
• Split applications to align nitrogen availability with crop uptake stages (pre-plant, sidedress, tillering, fruit set), which reduces the leaching and volatilization risk common to any nitrate-based product.
• Track soil pH over multiple seasons if using straight ammonium nitrate or urea without a calcium buffer, since neither offsets the acidifying effect of ammonium-form nitrogen the way CAN’s carbonate content does.
• Re-check current spot pricing before bulk purchase — the Business Analytiq CAN index and equivalent trackers for urea and UAN update on a rolling basis, so a quote from even a few weeks earlier can be stale in a volatile natural-gas-price environment.

How Farmonaut Supports Nitrogen Decisions

Deciding between CAN, calcium nitrate, ammonium nitrate, and UAN is only half the problem — the other half is knowing where in the field nitrogen is actually short, so the rate you calculate above gets applied where it’s needed instead of blanket-spread. Farmonaut’s satellite monitoring platform tracks vegetation health (NDVI) and soil moisture across a field, flagging zones likely to be nitrogen-deficient before visual symptoms appear.

• Satellite-Based Monitoring: Multispectral imagery for large-scale analysis of vegetation health, soil moisture, and nutrient status, supporting early identification of deficiencies.
• AI Advisory: Farmonaut’s Jeevn AI system delivers field-history-based nitrogen timing recommendations — see Farmonaut’s nitrogen management guide for the underlying practices.
• Blockchain Traceability: Documents fertilizer inputs including CAN and calcium nitrate for certification and premium-market requirements via product traceability.
• Fleet Management: Schedules and geo-tracks application equipment to reduce fuel, labor, and product wastage through fleet management solutions.
• Carbon Footprinting: Real-time carbon monitoring for documenting sustainable nitrogen practices via carbon footprinting.
• Loan and Insurance Verification: Objective proof of fertilizer use and crop management supporting crop loan and insurance processes.

Field-level input tracking and application scheduling run through Farmonaut’s agro admin app, and developers integrating satellite and weather data directly can use the Farmonaut developer API or review the satellite weather API documentation.

Regenerative Agriculture: Carbon Farming, Soil Health & Climate-Smart Solutions.

Smart Farming Future: Precision Tech & AI Boosting Harvests, Enhancing Sustainability.

Farmonaut: Revolutionizing Farming with Satellite-Based Crop Health Monitoring.

Farmonaut Satellite Based Crop Health Monitoring.

Smart Farming Future: Precision Tech & AI Boosting Harvests, Enhancing Sustainability.

FAQs: Calcium Ammonium Nitrate

Further reading:

• specialized farming
• satellites, sensors, and farm management platforms

Conclusion: Choosing Between CAN, AN, and Calcium Nitrate

The decision between calcium ammonium nitrate, straight ammonium nitrate, and calcium nitrate comes down to three questions: how much nitrogen concentration you need per ton hauled, whether you want a built-in calcium/pH buffer or plan to manage soil pH separately, and whether the product needs to dissolve for fertigation or ship as a soil-applied granule. CAN’s 27% nitrogen and 8% calcium make it the buffered, broadacre choice; ammonium nitrate’s 34% nitrogen with no calcium suits growers managing pH independently where local regulation permits its use; calcium nitrate’s full solubility and 15.5% nitrogen make it the fertigation and rapid-correction tool, not a broadacre nitrogen source.

None of the three prices or rates stay fixed — the calculator above converts whatever current quote you pull into a comparable cost-per-pound-of-nitrogen, and the checklist under Nitrogen Use Efficiency gives a method for re-verifying rate and timing decisions every season rather than carrying one year’s numbers forward. Pair that with field-level monitoring — through Farmonaut’s platform or your own scouting — and the nitrogen source you choose matters less than confirming it is going where the crop is actually short.