Recent News
Soil Health Basics for Technical Service Providers
We met with Dr. Stacy Zuber, USDA-NRCS State Soil Health Specialist, on March 15th to discuss details about the new national course for certification of Technical Service Providers to write Soil Health Management System Conservation Activity Plans (CP 116). This training will be hosted by the USDA-NRCS Soil Health Division through virtual delivery April 27-29th. Dr....
Carbon Farming Strategies – Dr. Emily Bruner
Every day, more and more articles pop up in my news feed highlighting carbon as a potential revenue source for farmers. I admit, as a soil scientist my feed may be a bit biased, but news about farming practices that store soil carbon are no longer limited to scientists or conservation-minded farmers, soil carbon has infiltrated the mainstream. In fact,...
State of Knowledge of Soil Biodiversity
State of Knowledge of Soil Biodiversity On December 4, 2020, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization released the first global report on soil biodiversity: State of Knowledge of Soil Biodiversity. This report brings together the most current knowledge of soil life and how it supports nature and humanity. More than 300 scientists contributed to the report, which provides an...
Quantifying Economic and Environmental Benefits of Soil Health – American Farmland Trust
Farmers face increased erratic weather conditions while constantly trying to cut costs and improve profits all while responding to society’s call to reduce unintended water quality and climate issues associated with agriculture. American Farmland Trust found “soil health successful farmers,” and conducted benefit-cost analyses. American Farmland Trust used partial budget analysis to estimate the net economic benefits eight farmers have...
Tillage Benchmarks for Corn in Illinois
A recent University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign report posted to FarmdocDaily highlights the financial benefit of reducing tillage based on data gathered from the 300+ farmers enrolled in Illinois Corn Growers Precision Conservation Management Program. [button text="Read Full Report" link="https://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2020/10/tillage-benchmarks-for-corn-in-illinois.html" style="default" size="normal" target="_self" display="inline" icon="no"]
CARBON FARMING IN ILLINOIS
CARBON FARMING IN ILLINOIS In celebration of climate week, ISAP is excited to announce a NEW fact sheet dedicated to carbon farming opportunities! Illinois has over 23 million acres of cropland suitable for adoption of practices capable of increasing soil carbon and storage such as planting cover crops and reducing tillage, presenting an exciting opportunity for Illinois farmers to offer immediate, scalable solutions to climate change. In fact, using estimates...