By TIM ALEXANDER

Illinois Correspondent

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — More farmers are stepping up to work hand-in-hand with the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to implement nutrient filtration and other systems that improve water quality and reduce input costs.

According to the NRCS, farmers’ efforts are paying off: Conservation practices on crop fields reduce average edge-of-field nitrogen losses by 3.8 billion tons per year. Another 584 million tons of phosphorous are saved from waterways each year through conservation practices as well.

With NRCS offices busier than ever due to budget cuts and increased interest in conservation programs from growers, a new, farmer-led service launched in Illinois and Kentucky is helping others connect with voluntary conservation programs.

Precision Conservation Management (PCM) addresses farmers’ natural resources concerns on a field-by-field basis by identifying conservation practices that effectively address environmental issues in a financially viable way, according to Laura Gentry, director of environmental research for the Illinois Corn Growers Assoc. (ICGA).

“(PCM) is a farm management service developed by farmers, for farmers, to help farmers identify the most feasible conservation practices for their farm, customized to their own resources and finances,” said Gentry, who is also adjunct faculty in the University of Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences.

“Another purpose is to increase grower participation in conservation programs, like NRCS programs and Field to Market. Lastly, the purpose of this program is to demonstrate what farmers are doing on their land now, and how they are changing to continually improve.”

The PCM program is funded through nominal membership fees, grants and contributions from foundations and organizations. “We don’t sell a product, and we don’t sell your data,” Gentry promised.

PCM membership is centralized within the Mississippi River Basin, with 12 counties in Illinois (Champaign, Douglas, Ford, Macoupin, Sangamon, Vermilion, Christian, Edgar, Livingston, McLean, Tazewell and Woodford) currently participating. PCM is also in the Kentucky counties of Carlisle, Daviess, Graves, Hickman, McLean, Christian, Fulton, Henderson, Logan and Todd.

“We have secure management of our agronomic records and professional agronomic consulting, we offer enrollment and compliance assistance with conservation programs and we provide aggregated, anonymized data that we can then give to the NRCS or other organizations interested in seeing what growers are doing,” Gentry said.

PCM is comprised of sponsor organizations ICGA, the U of I, Illinois Farm Business Farm Management and Heartland Science and Technology Group. Enrollment coordinators are scattered across participating counties, including Erica and Brandon Stauffer, who serve Woodford, Tazewell, McLean and Livingston counties in Illinois.

PCM is beneficial to government-led farmer conservation programs and agencies such as NRCS for a variety of reasons, according to Gentry.

“NRCS gets conservation across the landscape on a scale they probably couldn’t otherwise achieve,” she said. “They get more growers enrolling in programs, and they get assistance with enrolling growers in programs and in compliance.”

For more information on PCM, drop an email to an enrollment coordinator at info@precisionconservation.org or call 217-898-7735.