The Illinois Nutrient Research &  Education Council issued a press release today announcing their decision to fund 20 projects that address nutrient and water quality issues.  Many of the projects are on-farm research projects designed to ground truth the recommendations of the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy and determine the level of nutrient loss reductions that can be achieved by nitrogen management systems, use of cover crops, bioreactors and wetlands.  IFCA has three representatives on the 13 member NREC Council.  The Illinois CCA program and IFCA are among the grant recipients for an education project.  With NREC's support we will conduct training programs for ag retailers and CCAs on the detailed objectives of Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy and the implementation of the IFCA 4R Code of Practice, and to help develop meetings and webinars to deliver this information to our members who can magnify the message and offer 4R programs and services to your farmer customers to help our industry reduce nutrient losses.  

 

Click here to view the NREC Press Release and go to www.illinoisnrec.org to view a synopsis of the 20 projects totalling $2,428,311 dollars, all of which was generated from a 75 cent per ton assessment on fertilizer sold in Illinois.  

 

Please share this news with your farmer customers to spread the word about the proactive work that NREC is funding.  This works assures science-based methods that our industry and your farmer customers will be able to utilize to increase nutrient utilization and protect water quality; these research projects will also produce peer-reviewed, published literature that can eventually be incorporated into the Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy.