Recent News

PCM RELEASES DRAFT DATA: SHOWS THAT MINIMAL TILLAGE AND SPRING NITROGEN APPLICATIONS ARE MORE PROFITABLE

IL Corn’s signature water quality and nutrient management program, Precision Conservation Management, has preliminary data to share based on its first three years of operation.  This data will help farmers minimize input costs and maximize sustainability on their acres. Dr. Laura Gentry, Director of Water Quality Research IL Corn Growers Association, stated, "This data is encouraging news - both environmentally...

American Farmland Trust Reveals Positive Conservation Results of “Women Learning Circles”

American Farmland Trust, the organization behind the national movement “No Farms No Food,” published its Women for the Land program report, “Testing the Women Landowner Conservation Learning Circle Model.” The report, along with illustrative profiles and videos, further supports previous research that women landowners are important in the broader implementation of conservation practices on farms. The interviews also show women-only learning...

IFES 2018: Management and Conservation in the Face of Lower Returns

To view the official presentation and blog post please click here. Last year, Dale Lattz, Gary Schnitkey and Nick Paulson, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, University of Illinois, examined what made some farms more profitable than others.  One of the traits of more profitable farms was that they had lower costs, suggesting that those more profitable farms may have used...

A Smart Move for Illinois Farmers

A Smart Move for Illinois Farmers If you asked an Illinois farmer if they would consider building a wetland as part of their tile-drainage system, their likely response would be: “Why would I want to do that?” That reaction is not a surprise given that it was tile-drainage-adoption that enabled producers in the upper Midwest to plant crops into the...

Partnership Effort Adding Money to the Cover Crop Equation: PCM

PepsiCo, Mars Petcare, The Nature Conservancy, and The Illinois Council of Best Management Practices all have their individual sustainability goals and are offering cost share incentives to farmers in Illinois. Mars and Pepsi’s main goal is to lower their greenhouse gas emissions and believe cover crops are one solution towards achieving this. They committed support toward their sourcing regions (Vermilion...

Timing is everything, good cover crop management starts with appropriate seeding dates

Timing of cover crop planting is essential for achieving your goals and getting the most biological and economical value out of the cover crop species you have selected to meet them. That is equally true when we talk about planting cover crops in the fall ahead of corn or soybeans. Each cover crop species can provide its own unique benefits...