Recent News
Saddle Butte Discusses Cover Crop Techniques and Takeaways
On February 12th Illinois Cover Crop On-Farm Network was joined by TJ Kartes of Saddle Butte Ag. TJ is a seed sales representative who covers southern Minnesota, Iowa, and parts of Illinois and Missouri. TJ discussed trends he has observed with customers who are having considerable success with cover cropping and shared basic cover crop recipes and strategies that are...
Frey Family Farm Recognized as Conservation Leader in Illinois
The Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership was a proud sponsor of the inaugural Illinois Leopold Conservation Award, an award program sponsored by the Sand County Foundation that recognizes and celebrates extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation by agricultural landowners. The prestigious award, given in honor of renowned conservationist Aldo Leopold, recognizes extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation and management of natural resources by...
Phosphorus Management Considerations
The Quick and Dirt-y on Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus (DRP) A hot topic in soil health and nutrient loss over the last few years has been Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus (DRP), a form of phosphorus that is dissolved and readily available to plants and algae. DRP differs from the phosphorus loss we usually hear about, which is tied to soil particles,...
Illinois Farmers Get Paid for Citizen Science Cover Crop Research
Cover crops are becoming increasingly popular as a key strategy for improving soil health, water quality, and climate resilience across a wide variety of farming systems. Many cover crop benefits depend on successful cover crop growth, or biomass. However, cover crop biomass can vary widely across farms because plant growth is influenced by multiple factors like climate, soil, and management...
Boosting Climate-Smart Agriculture Implementation
The term climate-smart agriculture was first coined in 2010, but has gotten more attention over the last several years. In this webinar we will feature 3 climate-smart agriculture projects that are working to expand climate-smart ag practice implementation across the North Central Region - The Alliance to Advance Climate-Smart Ag Program, the Climate-Ready Farm Assessment Tool, and the Satellite-Driven Data...
Final Reflections and Lessons from Retailer Cover Crop Trial
In a previous ISAP blog post, we introduced a trial partnership between Illini FS and The Nature Conservancy, with funding from the Illinois Soybean Association. Using Illini FS cover crop drilling and Nu-tracker soil testing services, we implemented seven split-field cover crop trials. These plots were subjected to three rounds of soil and plant tissue testing to better educate retailers...