1) See the Survey of Cover Crop, Conservation Tillage and Nutrient Management Practice Usage in Illinois and 2020 Fall Covers for Spring Savings Crop Insurance Discount Program Participation for insights into how and when farmers have incorporated these sustainable agriculture practices into their farms across Illinois.
The survey shows that corn and soy farmers in Illinois are increasingly planting cover crops in between crop cycles and there is a higher number of farmers wanting to begin this practice as a strategy to restore and protect the health of their soils. The Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy shows that cover cropping can be one of the most effective in-field strategies for reducing both nitrate-nitrogen and total phosphorus lost from corn-soybean fields.
Currently, the Illinois Department of Agriculture provides a $5/acre discount on crop insurance premiums for farmers who plant those acres in cover crops between growing seasons through the "Fall Covers for Spring Savings" program. This program is easy to access and offers a simple incentive for farmers to plant and keep their land in cover crops.
America's Farmland Trust, an advocacy group, is using the survey to request an expansion of the program from 50,000 acres to 200,000 acres towards improving the health of Illinois' farmland soils.
Figure right: Spatial Distribution of the Reported Share of Farmers in Respondents’ Area or Township That Planted Cover Crops in Fall of 2019
Gramig, Benjamin; Khanna, Madhu; Jain, Atul (2021): An Assessment of the Impacts of Climate Change in Illinois, Chapter 4: Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture, Supplemental Materials. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. https://doi.org/10.13012/B2IDB-8285949_V1