Ag producers mark your calendars for July 7, 2011. Attend one of two duplicate farm tours that day.  The morning tour will leave First Baptist Church in Fairbury, Ill., at 9:30 AM central time.  The evening tour will leave the church at 3:00 PM central time. The church is located at 701 North 7th Street, Fairbury, IL 61739-1595.  Participants will meet at the church then board a bus to visit the tour sites.

 

Farmers and corporate sponsors at the sites will focus on effective agricultural systems while they showcase products, practices and technology that can boost profitable farming and improve water quality.  

 

Tour demonstrations will include nitrogen fertilizer split-application, slow release products, strip-till N application systems, and fertilizer use efficiency studies. These practices can improve both the farmer’s bottom line and water quality.  Practices shown will emphasize the 4R cornerstones of nutrient management:  use the Right source at the Right time, in the Right place at the Right rate.  Producers can implement the four Rs and substantially reduce the amount of N fertilizer escaping fields, a clear financial loss, and detrimental to water quality.

 

Enjoy lunch with the morning tour or supper with the evening tour.  Organizers will offer an optional trip to Kilgus Dairy, an award-winning conservation dairy, Spence Farm, which grows food for Chicago chefs, and Argonne National Laboratory’s experimental bioenergy site.

Livingston County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) will host the tour with support from Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC), Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IL EPA), Agrium Advanced Technologies, Agrotain, The Fertilizer Institute, Monsanto, Mosaic, Illinois Corn Marketing Board, Agri Drain Corporation, Case IH, John Deere, ADM and the International Plant Nutrition Institute.

 

Register by calling Terry Bachtold at 815.844.6127, extension 3, or email Amber Gritter at gritter@ctic.org. Please specify morning or afternoon tour.

 

The Indian Creek Watershed Project is an effort to increase the adoption of conservation agricultural systems and measure the effectiveness of different nutrient management practices on local farms.

 

For more information about the watershed project, contact Terry Bachtold, Livingston County SWCD, at 815.844.6127, extension 3 or visit CTIC's Indian Creek project web site.

The Livingston County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is an arm of local government working closely with USDA-NRCS in implementing conservation management programs for agricultural producers in Livingston County, Ill. The District provides conservation practice technical assistance, administers programs from the State of Illinois, and educational programs for students, educators and the general public.

The Conservation Technology Information Center (www.ctic.org) seeks additional sponsors for the Indian Creek Watershed Project.  For more information call Karen Scanlon at 765-494-9555.  Or email Karen at scanlon@ctic.org.

CTIC champions, promotes and provides information on technologies and sustainable agricultural systems that conserve and enhance soil, water, air and wildlife resources and are productive and profitable.  To learn more, visit www.ctic.org.

Funding for the Indian Creek watershed project is provided (in part) by IL EPA through Section 319 of the Clean Water Act.  The mission of IL EPA is to safeguard environmental quality, consistent with the social and economic needs of the State, so as to protect health, welfare, property and the quality of life. 

 

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