BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — Precision Conservation Management (PCM), Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) and the Illinois Corn Growers Association (ICGA), partners in the Climate-Smart Agriculture Innovative Finance Initiative, are among several Illinois ag and conservation groups that will benefit from USDA’s new “climate-smart” agricultural grant program. Of 70 projects to receive a portion of $2.8 billion allotted in first-round program funding, 13 will operate in Illinois with the goal of incentivizing growers to implement climate-smart practices in farming, ranching and forestry. 

The Initiative, led by Field to Market, will be allotted up to $70 million for leveraging private sector demand to strengthen markets for climate-smart commodities. Partners will provide technical assistance and additional financial incentives to a diverse array of producers across a range of commodities, tying climate-smart practices to commodity purchases and creating a scalable model for private sector investment, according to a USDA.

“These programs will provide farmers the opportunity to trial conservation practices by reducing the financial risk of practice implementation,” said Steve Pitstick, ISA board chairman, of the Illinois initiatives, which also included $95 million for a project to grow and expand Illinois’ Soil and Water Outcomes Fund into 12 states. 

Additional sponsors of the Climate-Smart Ag Innovative Finance Initiative include PepsiCo, Farmers Business Network, Archer Daniels Midland, Nutrien Ag Solutions, Growers Edge, Mondelēz and Michigan State University. Though the program funding will not be administered through USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), producers already enrolled in NRCS conservation programs may also submit projects for consideration. Private sector project partners will soon announce how producers can sign up for the program, according to USDA. 

This summer, PCM released a data summary report for 2015-2021 providing analyzed, aggregated and anonymized results for over 12,000 Illinois farm fields that demonstrated the financial and environmental impacts resulting from various tillage, nutrient management and cover crop practices. The report outlined five recommendations for farmers that are supported by data collected from PCM program participants.

At the top of the list of recommended proven practices: considering a switch to spring or in-season nitrogen applications.

“It’s true that the main benefit of fall applied nitrogen is logistics, but we continue to find that it’s worth developing a plan for spring or in-season applied nitrogen. Fall applied nitrogen has proven to be less efficient than spring or summer applied programs, supporting the fact that nitrogen is lost through the winter, and fall-applied nitrogen can be $20-$30 per acre behind other timing methods,” said PCM Operations Manager Clay Bess, who added that anything more than two passes is not worth the time or money.

“On bean stubble and corn stalks, farmers who perform three or more passes of tillage are seeing a drastic decrease in return per acre. Yields are dragging, and the additional power costs make the decision to remove at least one of those passes easy and backed by our seven years of data, not to mention the drastic environmental impacts of that third tillage trip.” he said.

In addition, Bess said PCM research shows that only a quarter of the profitable corn farmers perform more than one tillage pass, and only one third of the most profitable soybean farmers perform more than one tillage pass.

Additional recommendations Bess offered for farmers considering a different strategy include:

“Cover crops that die in the winter and don’t need to be terminated in the spring look like the viable option ahead of corn. Not only is it less risky, decomposing for a clean field to plant, but it also shows less yield drag and fewer costs than over wintering ahead of corn.”

“On average, cover crops resulted in a two-bushel soybean hit on highly productive soils. So, one strategy for farmers with highly productive soils is to select a field that isn’t reaching its maximum yield potential due to reduced water infiltration, weed pressure, or soil erosion, and try cereal rye ahead of soybean and a cover crop that winter kills (like an oat/radish blend) ahead of corn.  The idea is that the cover crop will help with the yield-reducing factors and any yield reduction from the cover crop itself will be minimal.”

“PCM Specialists consistently inform nitrogen discussions with farmers around an attempt to reach 1.00 NUE (pounds of nitrogen applied per bushel of corn raised) across the operation and, if the farmer is within range, working with the Maximum Return to Nitrogen to maximize return on the nitrogen purchased. Data supports that the most favorable profits lie within operations at or below 1.00 NUE.”

PCM is a farmer service program jointly funded by IL Corn and Illinois Soybean Association to help farmers understand and manage risks associated with adopting new conservation practices with the objective of helping farmers make sound financial decisions. The program evaluates conservation practices both on their impact to the environment and their impact to family farmer profitability.

A complete list of projects identified for the first round of USDA climate-smart funding is available at usda.gov/climate-smart-commodities.