Cost-Benefit Analysis of Conservation Practices
Farming for the Future: Ecosystem Markets Webinars
IL Corn developed Precision Conservation Management (PCM) to meet the management needs of farmers by making possible the integration of agronomic information with financial and environmental analytics.
PCM helps farmers address water quality through the voluntary adoption of conservation practices, the developing confidence in those practices, and the understanding of economic impacts of those practices.
Through an online Farmer Portal, farmers can access the economics of their farming practices or systems based on the financial averages/standard costs derived from Farm Business Farm Management (FBFM) data and University of Illinois Ag Economics Department. Users can also enter their own financial numbers in place of the standard costs in order to get a more individualized assessment of their own on-farm economics.
The farmer’s individual information is protected in this system and is not shared unless the individual farmer grants permission. In this case, data is anonymous and aggregated before it is shared with researchers. Through this system – either with standardized or individualized data – the farmer has access to the agronomic data on each field for their farm to see how well the conservation practices may be working.
PCM relies on an extensive set of team members including U of I, FBFM, and Heartland Science and Technology to aggregate, assess and compare each of these data sets. PCM is prepared to make some recommendations to help farmers accomplish both their economic and their conservation goals in newly expanded regions across Illinois with the newfound partnership with the Illinois Soybean Association.
FarmDocDaily Resources
The overall goal of the Farmdoc project is to provide U.S. Corn Belt crop and livestock producers with constant access to integrated information and expertise to better manage their farm businesses. Many of these resources, like those listed below, focus on conservation.
2020
- Tillage Benchmarks for Corn in Illinois
- Cutting Fertilizer Rates to Save Costs
2019
- Tillage Passes and Returns on Corn-Soybean Farms in East-Central Illinois
- The Economic Advisability of Lowering 2019 Nitrogen Application Rates on Corn
- Strip-Till Implementation in Illinois
- Cost and Returns from Different Nitrogen Application Timing in Illinois
2016
- Dead Zones and Drinking Water, Part 1
Where we're working
The PCM program is focused on the following Illinois counties: Boone, Champaign, Christian, Clinton, Coles, DeKalb, DeWitt, Douglas, Edgar, Ford, Henry, Knox, Lee, Livingston, Macon, Macoupin, Madison, McLean, Mercer, Monroe, Ogle, Piatt, Rock Island, Sangamon, St. Clair, Tazewell, Vermillion, Washington, Winnebago, Woodford. The program is also offered in Kentucky with another region coming soon in Nebraska.
