Cover Crops

Project Summary:

At the October 2018 Knox County Farm Bureau Young Farmers Meeting, the topic of the Illinois Farm Bureau Nutrient Stewardship Grant was brought up in New Business. After an hour-long conversation, the Young Farmers decided to pursue a cover crop project across the county. That is where the Knox County Farm Bureau Young Farmers Cover Crop Project began. At the time, cover crops were a relatively new practice, with very little use in Knox County for many reasons.

Knox County Farm Bureau members were asked to submit an application to participate in the project with a 20-acre cover crop plot in one of the 20 townships in Knox County. Members had to indicate why they wanted to use cover crops; Nutrient Reduction/Water Retention, Erosion Control/Stability of Soil, Grazing, and Reduce Soil Compaction. 18 of the 20 townships consistently were part of the project. Depending on the crop rotation and reason for cover crop implementation, members were assigned a cover crop seed/mix from FS. The mixes allowed us to work with multi-species covers while learning the benefits of each. The majority of the townships then had the seed flown on aerially, with a few members drilling the seed in. The Nutrient Stewardship Grant provided financial seed assistance to those members to lessen the burden of their involvement as well as covered the cost of the aerial application and soil sampling of each plot.

Without the members who were interested in implementing cover crops or just passionate about supporting the Young Farmers, this project would never have been as big or impactful as what we are able to report in this booklet. A huge thanks to members 4th Meridian Farms - Aaron and Nathan Link, Brian Nelson, Kent Rigg, Beau Bewley, Jarid Cain, Tom, John and Carl O’Connor, Jeff Grady, Tom Grady, Phil Goedeke, Frank Hopkins, Wade and Abby Springer, Drew DeSutter, Brian and Patrick King, Mark and Matt Johnson, Gary Lincoln, and Grant Strom for their continued interest in the project!

It was a natural fit to partner with West Central FS on this project. They provided the cover crop seed and mixes at a discount along with staff support and expertise. Other partners along the way that made the project so successful were GROWMARK Seed Division, University of Illinois College of ACES Crop Sciences Department, Midwest Custom Ag Aviation, and KSI Laboratory.

Of course, this project would have never happened without the Illinois Farm Bureau Nutrient Stewardship Grant or staff. Since the first grant award in 2019, Illinois Farm Bureau has provided this project over $65,000!

While the practice of adopting cover crops can be very trial and error for each individual farm, we hope you enjoy learning about our project, our members, and the results!

Sincerely,

Hailey Hennenfent

Knox County Farm Bureau Executive Director

Brandon Hall- CCA Certified Crop Adviser

West Central FS, Wataga Agronomy Location Manager

Knox County Farm Bureau Young Farmers Chairman, 2024-2025

2022 Project Booklet

2026 Final Project Booklet with results from the University of Illinois