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Illinois S.T.A.R. program might reach farmers in other states

The Saving Tomorrow’s Agriculture Resources or S.T.A.R. program in Illinois has seen tremendous growth.

Program coordinator Bruce Henrickson tells Brownfield the program was formed by the Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District in 2017 to prevent soil and nutrient loss in the Mississippi watershed.

“We now have 43 counties in Illinois that have signed a license agreement and are using the program, which is tremendous.”

He says it is a free service that gives a 1 to 5-star rating based on conservation practices on certain fields to encourage farmers to improve practices on their farm.

Henrickson says other states are interested in modeling the program and they are working to make that happen.

“We want to be sure that if it is a three-star field in Illinois then a field in some other state, even though they may be different kinds of practices dependent on the crops, they still need to be somewhat consistent.”

Henrickson says he is excited to get more farmers, counties and states involved in reducing nutrient loss.