CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Stewardship Committee of the Champaign County Soil & Water Conservation District has developed a FREE tool to assist farm operators to evaluate their own nutrient loss management practices and to promote “best management practices” on individual fields.
The S.T.A.R. (Saving Tomorrow’s Agriculture Resources) evaluation system assigns points for each cropping, tillage, nutrient application and soil conservation activity used on individual fields. The total points will then be used in a scale to determine a rating of 1 to 5 Stars for each individual field based on the management practices being used.
The benefits of using this program include:
Increased net farm income, decreased nutrient loss, potential to gain new farms to lease, land owners can evaluate tenants, assist in securing local conservation cost share (when available), assist producers in obtaining documentation to support potential water quality issues, and assist producers to obtain potential market premiums for conservation cropping practices.
The early adopters that have already used S.T.A.R. have been very pleased with the ease by which they could participate. It usually takes the farm operator about three minutes to answer the questions for one field and can submit those by email or mail. Those first users of S.T.A.R. have also been positive as they can easily see what practices they need to adopt to improve their S.T.A.R. rating and thus improve the environment and their bottom line.
Participants of this FREE program will be recognized by the community for their progress in showing that agriculture production can be sustainable. Each field that is rated can have a sign posted that indicates the S.T.A.R. rating at no cost to the farmer. In addition, those participants will be honored at the Annual Luncheon of the CCSWD. This year’s event will be on February 2.
Click the link for a brochure about S.T.A.R.:Â STAR brochure Jan 02 2018
Learn more about S.T.A.R. at the Champaign County Farm Bureau’s Winter Conservation Workshop on January 17, 2018. Click the link for more information about the free workshop: Winter Conservation Workshop flyer
— Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District
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