Nutrient Stewardship Grant Program
- 2022 Nutrient Stewardship Field Days
- View the 2021 Nutrient Stewardship Field Days
- View the 2020 Nutrient Stewardship Virtual Field Days
- Questions
Since 2015, Illinois Farm Bureau (IFB) has contributed to an impressive statewide effort, the Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (NLRS). Through leadership and participation from our farmer members across the state, IFB has been able to make meaningful contributions toward water quality efforts in Illinois. From 2016 to present, IFB has committed approximately $2.4 million of its own funding to build and maintain its sustainability initiatives and programs.
For the past several years, IFB has made it an organizational priority to lead on environmental issues, most notably, the NLRS. IFB’s NLRS efforts focus in four priority areas: 1) education and outreach to farmers, landowners and the general public; 2) supporting research of best management practices to reduce nutrient loss from agricultural fields; 3) supporting farmer implementation efforts across the state; and 4) demonstrating progress toward the long-term goals of the NLRS.
With the first year of work being completed in 2016, the Nutrient Stewardship Grant Program has become a cornerstone of IFB’s work to implement the NLRS, serving as one example of the many ways IFB is creating lasting impacts in implementing the NLRS across Illinois. This program funds County Farm Bureau (CFB) projects focused on improving soil health and water quality throughout the state. Since 2015, IFB has dedicated over $850,000 to CFBs to complete a wide range of unique projects, including planting test plots of cover crops, watershed planning, water testing, hosting education and outreach activities.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021, virtual programs and resources were developed to accommodate for cancelled or capped-attendance field days.
All 2022 Nutrient Stewardship Field Days are being offered in-person. Navigate the links below to find event flyers, which contain important event details such as RSVP information.
2022 Nutrient Stewardship Field Days
Washington County Farm Bureau (CFB)
Washington CFB and Gateway FS is hosted a spring field day as part of their multi-year cover crop project. The partners have been evaluating various cover crop practices and taking soil tests throughout the growing season to learn more about soil health and collecting tissue tests to evaluate crop health.
Read the summary on FarmWeekNow by clicking the link below:
Knox CFB
Knox CFB, West Central FS, and other local partners hosted a spring field day to share details of their ongoing project and preliminary results. Through this partnership, leaders of this program have been able to plant 20-acre cover crop plots across the county for three years, allowing producers to try cover crops on a small scale to help meet their individual goals.
Read the summary on FarmWeekNow by clicking the link below:
Clinton CFB
Clinton CFB hosted a spring field day as part of their multi-year NLRS project. The focus of this event was on their cover crop test plot, including information about manure application research, and more. Attendees also received an update on ongoing Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIUC) manure management and cereal rye research taking place in the county.
Read the summary on FarmWeekNow by clicking the link below:
Fulton CFB
Tuesday, June 7th, 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Research partners are once again joining at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago MWRD research site in Fulton County to learn more about new research taking place at the site and plans for the future. Partners for the field day include MWRD, Fulton and Cook CFB, University of Illinois (U of I) researchers, and the Illinois Nutrient Research and Education Council (NREC).
Read the summary on FarmWeekNow by clicking the link below:
McDonough CFB
Tuesday, June 21st, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Read the summary on FarmWeekNow by clicking the link below:
Marshall-Putnam FB
Wednesday, June 29th, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Read the summary on FarmWeekNow by clicking the link below:
Shelby CFB
Thursday, June 30th, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Read the summary on FarmWeekNow by clicking the link below:
McLean CFB
Tuesday, July 12th, 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Read the summary on FarmWeekNow by clicking the link below:
Lake CFB
Tuesday, July 19th, 11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Read the summary on FarmWeekNow by clicking the link below:
Piatt and Macon CFBs
Tuesday, July 26th, 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Read the summary on FarmWeekNow by clicking the link below:
Jo Daviess CFB
Friday, July 29th, 11:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Read the summary on FarmWeekNow by clicking the link below:
Wayne CFB
Thursday, August 25th, 5:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Read the summary on FarmWeekNow by clicking the link below:
Questions
Raelynn Parmely
IFB Environmental Program Manager
Email: rparmely@ilfb.org