The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) signed a memorandum of understanding establishing a state-wide program to standardize soil health practices and set clear levels of achievement for farmers engaging in best practices.

The program enables IDOA to implement Public Act 103-0494, passed by State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, and Rep. Michael Kelly, D-Chicago.

The legislation is meant to encourage increased use of cover crops, strip till, no till, and erosion and sediment control practices through the Saving Tomorrow’s Agricultural Resources (STAR) model, started by the Champaign County Soil & Water Conservation District (SWCD) to help meet the goals of the Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy.

“We are very supportive of the quick effort by Governor (J.B) Pritzker, Director (Jerry)Costello and the Department of Agriculture to implement the new law. P.A. 103-0494 allows federal funds to be leveraged, to continue pursuing our shared goals for conservation, while providing more direction on soil health duties to SWCDs,” said Richard Guebert Jr., president of Illinois Farm Bureau. “It is exciting to know that the hard work that all the parties who worked on this new law is coming to fruition. Our goal has always been to bring forward successful conservation practices to reduce nutrient losses in a voluntary manner.”

STAR is a free tool for farmers and landowners, encourages the use of best practices and decisions and provides scientific data for IDOA through performance metrics.

Farmers are evaluated on their crop rotation, tillage, nutrient applications and use of conservation practices to generate their overall field score that is converted to a STAR rating of 1 to 5 STARs, with 5 STARs indicating commitment to a suite of practices proven to improve soil health and water quality.

Resources for the initiative will come from Conservation 40, a new IDOA partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Services and the Sangamon County SWCD.

By leveraging $3.5 million in state dollars to capture $9.8 million in federal funds, IDOA envisions expanding the playing field to support voluntary efforts by farmers to reduce nutrient loss, build soil health, manage water resources, increase yields, profits and climate resilience.