Monitoring tile lines in the Wabash River Valley.

1.0 SW CEU

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Many producers in Illinois wonder what the Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy means to their farms. During the 2016 growing season a cooperative group including Illinois Farm Bureau, Illinois Corn Growers, Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association and others set out to see just what was happening on the farm. A total of 37 fields in 9 counties were monitored for nutrient loss as well as soil Nitrogen levels, tissue nutrient content and soil tests levels. The monitoring began before any crop was planted or application of nitrogen was made and continued through the end of July.

Our goal was to show those producers participating in the study how their current fertility program was impacting the surface waters locally and what affect they were contributing to downstream. We also wanted to use this as a tool to show the producers ways to reduce nutrient loss without affecting productivity or profitability. We succeeded in both of these goals. We found that our loss was very manageable, that growers were very eager to do what it took to reduce nutrient loss and that our remediation efforts work and can be profitable if implemented properly.

Our report shows only trends and aggregate data as producer anonymity is critical to our study’s success. However, specific data on key fields such as CRP, continuous corn and manure applications will be discussed. This is real world data any CCA can collect and use to help their clients be better stewards of their soil and the nutrients it contains.