State’s Cover Crop Acres Increasing Through IDNR Pilot Program
Protection of Illinois’ natural resources is expanding to improve the health of state-owned soil thanks to a pilot program with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).
“Soil health is one thing IDNR wants to work on,” Bob Caveny, IDNR farm program manager based in Carlinville, told participants at a March 19 Nutrient Stewardship Field Day with the Jefferson County and Franklin County Farm Bureaus. Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park in Whittington made a perfect field day location as the site of the first cover crop trial.
Mike Chandler, IDNR ag/wildlife and habitat lease management program manager, explained his agency manages 250 farmland leases with grain crops raised on the majority, along with hay and pasture.
Chandler told field day attendees all IDNR leases are signed for four-year terms and are bid from October through November with contracts starting in March. For example, the Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area in Cass County operates seven leases for roughly 5,000 acres.
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“Soil health is one thing IDNR wants to work on,” Bob Caveny, IDNR farm program manager based in Carlinville, told participants at a March 19 Nutrient Stewardship Field Day with the Jefferson County and Franklin County Farm Bureaus. Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park in Whittington made a perfect field day location as the site of the first cover crop trial.
Mike Chandler, IDNR ag/wildlife and habitat lease management program manager, explained his agency manages 250 farmland leases with grain crops raised on the majority, along with hay and pasture.
Chandler told field day attendees all IDNR leases are signed for four-year terms and are bid from October through November with contracts starting in March. For example, the Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area in Cass County operates seven leases for roughly 5,000 acres.
Click Here to read more.