Recent News
An Introduction to Carbon Intensity Scoring
Estimated contributions to carbon intensity of corn (Image credit: Preston Brown, incite.ag) What is carbon intensity and what does it mean for crop producers in Illinois? This January 2026, the Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership Science Committee was joined by Megan Dwyer, Director of Conservation and Nutrient Stewardship at the Illinois Corn Growers Association and Preston...
Perennial Systems for Diversified Benefit Streams
Perennial agriculture is not as straightforward as annual row crop commodities, especially in Illinois, but can be an innovative approach to landscape design that has the ability to provide benefits to the farmer and the environment. Before getting started with planting perennials on your farm, there are certainly going to be lots of questions. Some of these questions may be...
Biologicals, Another Tool in the Sustainability Toolkit?
The ISAP Science Committee recently invited researchers, Assistant Professor Dr. John Jones and Research Assistant Professor Dr. Connor Sible, from the University of Illinois for an in-depth conversation on the state of biologicals / biostimulants in the agricultural industry. There is growing interest within the sustainable and regenerative agriculture landscapes, and the goal of this conversation was to clarify the...
Reducing Nitrate Loading Without Sacrificing Crop Yields
Soil nitrogen, in the form of nitrate, is highly soluble and held weakly to soil which can be a cause of concern for water quality when rain or irrigation moves nitrate below the root zone into tile lines or groundwater. Largely from fall applied nitrogen, asynchronous availability of plant N and uptake of N can result in high tile nitrate...
Reap What You Sow: Economics of Adopting Cover Crops
Contributions by: Casey Kula, Greg Goodwin, and Jean Brokish Cover crops have been suggested as a reliable tool to help the State of Illinois achieve goals identified in the Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (NLRS). In addition to acting as a nutrient scavenger, cover crops reduce soil erosion and provide carbon through biomass and root exudates that contributes to overall soil...