University of Illinois’ iCOVER (Innovative Cover-crop Opportunity, Verification and Economy stimulating technology for underserved farmers using Robotics)
This program is focused on innovations essential for accelerating market development for climate smart commodities and enabling minority farmers to participate in those markets. These innovations, such as robotic planting and MMRV, reduce the cost and labor burden of cover crop planting, enable accurate, rapid, low-cost soil carbon measurement, and ensure efficient market linkages for Climate Smart (CS) benefits supplied by a diversity of farmers.
Farm Eligibility
Jul-23
AL, IA, IL, IN, MO
Cover Crops
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Money Matters
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A 10% payment for income the farmers have historically generated for each acre. For Midwestern farmers growing corn, the payment price will be determined by multiplying current price per bushel by bushels harvested from acres where cover crops are to be planted averaged over last 3 years. For minority farmers, the price will be determined by averaging last three years of per acre income. Out of this payment, farmers will pay a $10 per acre cover-crop planting fee, in order to ensure a reasonable anchoring point for future cover crop planting and management fees.
Refer to program category descriptions for general stackability potential. Reach out to the program contact for more information.
Not applicable
Contracting Info
The Partnership for Climate Smart Commodities program is a five year program starting in February 2023.
All projects are required to include plans to (1) quantify greenhouse gas (GHG) benefits and (2) monitor/verify those benefits over time.
They will hold outreach days leveraging University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Tuskegee University Extension networks. The I-FARM testbed already has extensive extension activities to educate and train farmers about robotic cover-crop planting and mechanical weeding technologies. We will synergize farmer outreach days with these existing efforts. Finally, we can reach and educate many farmers through the vast network of suppliers to our project partner, ADM.
The innovative robotic planting service will not put any technical load on farmers for cover crop planting or MMRV. The primary ways of providing technical assistance to farmers will be through robot operators who go out to the field to plant cover crops.
Technical Info
University of Illinois
In the first 3 years of the project, they will use the standard and well established soil sampling and remote sensing methods to measure and quantify the effect of cover crops on carbon sequestration in the farmer lands.
Greenhouse gas benefits will be measured by estimating sequestered carbon using the COMET tool. This will be further complemented by a high-resolution robot based soil carbon sensing method.
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