Economics

Making Sense of Carbon Markets

A presentation introducing carbon markets by Jean Brokish, Deputy Director for American Farmland Trust; delivered as part of the Soil Health Stewards Program (April 2022).

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Conservation and Carbon Funding for Farmers

Watch a presentation discussing carbon and conservation funding for farmers by Megan Miller, Agronomic Program Manager at the Illinois Soybean Association; delivered as part of Soy Summit (March 2023).

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ISAP’s Cover Crop Incentives Directory

ISAP’s Cover Crop Incentives Directory provides an overview of cover crop incentive payment opportunities for farmers in Illinois. The directory includes both publicly and privately funded programs as well as a “Stacking Matrix” so farmers can easily determine if they may be eligible to stack payments from multiple programs. If there is information in the directory that needs to be updated, please contact ISAP at hello@ilsustainableag.org

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ISAP’s Edge-of-Field Incentive Directory

ISAP’s Edge-of-Field Incentives Directory provides an overview of edge-of-field (EoF) incentive payment opportunities for farmers in Illinois. EoF practices are defined as those practices which intercept, capture, and treat subsurface drainage (conservation drainage practices) or surface runoff at the field level. The conservation drainage practices include bioreactors, constructed wetlands for tile-drainage treatment, drainage water management, drainage water recycling, and saturated buffers. Surface runoff practices include vegetated riparian buffers, filter strips, prairie strips, and restored wetlands. The directory also includes a “Stacking Matrix” so farmers can easily determine if they may be eligible to stack payments from multiple programs.

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Conservation Effects Assessment Project: Publications

USDA’s Conservation Effects Assessment Project, CEAP, provides a suite of publications highlighting the effects of voluntary conservation across the nation’s working lands. The site compiles reports, articles fact sheets, and webinars on topics including crop lands, grazing lands, wetlands, wildlife, and watersheds.

“Cover Crops Economics” Report – SARE

The Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education’s “Cover Crop Economics: Opportunities to Improve Your Bottom Line in Row Crops” looks at the economics of cover crops in corn and soybean rotations to help farmers answer that big question, when do cover crops pay?

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