Nutrient Stewardship Effort Launched
DECATUR - Illinois agriculture organizations used the worldwide forum provided by last week’s Farm Progress Show in Decatur to launch “Keep it in the Crop by 2025,” a program aimed at reducing nutrient losses and chemical runoff in priority watershed areas.

The collaborative program, which is spearheaded by the newly-created Illinois Council on Best Management Practices (CBMP), will promote, implement and track the rate of adoption of enhanced nutrient stewardship practices used by Illinois farmers.
The initiative will focus on six priority watersheds identified by Illinois EPA, including Lake Bloomington and Lake Decatur. “The lakes and rivers in these watersheds have water quality problems due to too much nitrogen or phosphorous, or both,” stated Marcia Wilhite, IEPA Bureau of Water chief. “(IEPA) strongly endorses efforts to promote voluntary action by producers to adopt nutrient stewardship practices in their watersheds. If everyone does their part, we can ensure clean water for future generations.”
The effort has drawn the support of the Illinois Sierra Club, said spokesperson Jack Darin. “We know farmers want clean water, and we also know they want to avoid waste and unnecessary costs in their operation,” he said. The CMBP is comprised of the Illinois Fertilizer & Chemical Association, Ill. Soybean Assoc., Ill. Pork Producers Assoc. and Syngenta Crop Protection.
Interested farmers should call Mike Plumer of the CMBP at (618) 364-2219.

Optimism for Corn Harvest Dwindling
SPARLAND - It has come down to a wait-and-see scenario for Illinois farmers regarding their corn harvest, though many don’t hold a lot of hope for a bountiful 2011 yield. The August 29 Illinois Weather & Crops report, issued by USDA-NASS, showed little or no moisture in the central and southern portions of the state during the previous week, though some areas of northern Illinois received above-average rainfall to boost the state average to 0.54 inches.
Peoria County farmer Jake Streitmatter said his corn crop is not shaping up very well coming into harvest, echoing the lament of most area producers. “It’s going to be disappointing over what we should have averaged,” said Streitmatter, who farms west of Sparland in northern Peoria County and planted the majority of his cropland corn-on-corn. “The heat in July pulled the top end right out of (the corn). We’re tipped back about two inches on every ear and we’ve probably lost an estimated 60 bushels off our top-end yield. I’m hoping we can average 160 bushels, but I may be too optimistic,” he reported.
Streitmatter’s early-planted beans are also suffering in productivity from the arid weather conditions experienced in July. “The rain came almost too late, and (soybeans) are not looking good. We aborted a lot of pods and we have a lot of ones and twos. I don’t think we’ll have a soybean yield like we did last year, but we ought to have an average crop in the 45 to 50 bushel range,” he said.
The only silver lining to this year’s corn and bean crops, Streitmatter said, was a near-total absence of pest and disease problems. Japanese beetles were sprayed for earlier in the summer, he said.

Survey Fails to Raise Stink (Bugs)
URBANA -  Most Illinois farmers are experiencing a stink bug-free summer, according to a recent study partially funded by the Illinois soybean checkoff. During the course of the 47-county crop survey conducted in July and August, no brown marmorated, red banded or red shouldered stink bugs were found, said University of Illinois entomologist Mike Gray. Five soybean fields were randomly selected from each county for the study to gauge the presence of a variety of insect pests. 100 “sweeps” were conducted in each field, revealing mainly Japanese beetles and green cloverworms. Adult western corn rootworm densities were very low in soybean fields, according to the study, with the highest density found in Ford County (25 adults per 100 sweeps). More data from the study can be found at www.bulletin.ipm.illinois.edu/contents.php. (Ill. Soybean Assoc. Weekly Update)

Eastern Bypass Meeting Scheduled
PEORIA - Area farmers who could be impacted by the construction of the “Eastern Bypass” corridor connecting Woodford and Tazewell counties with Route 6 and Interstates 74 and 474 west of the Illinois River will have the opportunity to offer input and opinions on the project during a public meeting set for Thursday, September 15, the Illinois Department of Transportation has announced. The meeting will be held from 3-7 p.m. at the Countryside Banquet Facility in Washington.
The purpose of the meeting is to present and receive comments on the six potential corridors being considered and to describe the process used by IDOT to develop and analyze the corridors. Under an open house format, attendees are free to come and go as they please during the ongoing meeting. A continuous video presentation will be shown during the meeting, which will also feature various maps, drawings, and other project information for public perusal. IDOT study team members will be on hand to receive comments from farmers, landowners and the public.
For further information, contact Mike Lewis of IDOT at (309) 671-3333.

Koehler: Farm Market Bill Will Unify Counties
PEORIA - We had a chance to speak with Illinois Senator David Koehler (D-Peoria) last week regarding his recently-passed Senate Bill 840, which establishes guidelines for private citizens who wish to prepare non-hazardous foods in home kitchens for sale at farmers’ markets and other community events. Koehler said that in addition to allowing for increased entrepreneurship at farmers’ markets, the bill will serve to unify regulations for farm markets that were previously established by individual county health departments.
“(SB 840) sets down regulations that all health departments now have to abide by. As someone who participates in a lot of farmers’ markets-- I own a bakery and produce organic breads for farm markets-- I know that each county had its own interpretation of what to do. Some have very stringent fines and requirements and some don’t,” Koehler said. “There is a lot of work to do to get some uniformity in how farmers’ markets are (regulated).”
A companion bill, SB 1852, which creates a task force to advise and assist the Ill. Dept. of Public Health in developing statewide administrative regulations for farmers’ markets, was also signed into law by Gov. Pat Quinn at the Illinois State Fair.

Illinois Farm Fact:
84 percent of Illinois corn farmers feel that federal crop insurance coverage needs to be improved. (Ill. Corn Growers Assoc.)

(Tim Alexander is a freelance reporter who writes agriculture, news and feature articles for the News Bulletin, Farm World and many other publications.)