In 2023, NREC is funding five new and unique projects with 22 continuing multi-year activities. The funding for these projects comes from an assessment of 75 cents per ton of fertilizer sold in Illinois. Additional funds have been earmarked for communications and outreach projects to ensure that farmers and fertilizer industry professionals are receiving timely updates from the research projects. Council-funded projects fall into three main categories with an emphasis on the 4R’s – applying the right source of fertilizer, at the right rate, right time, and right place, looking at ways to capture nutrients within the field using cover crops, and finally exploring methods of capturing nutrients before they are lost in a way that could potentially impact the environment. The last category focuses on methods such as buffer strips, woodchip bioreactors, and wetlands.
2023 NREC Funded Research Projects – Project Objectives
| Project Title | Institution | Principal Investigator | 2023 Project Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quantifying the effects of tillage, fertilizer placement, and winter cover crops on nutrient losses via soil macropore flow | UI | Yu | $ 98,039 |
| On-farm and farmer-led: quantifying nutrient use efficiencies and contextualizing nutrient losses in corn-soybean production | UI | Margenot | $ 77,884 |
| Assessing Diverse Crops for N and P Efficiency, C Sequestration, and Economic Impact on Illinois Crop Rotation | ISU | Ryhkerd | $ 152,421 |
| A missing piece of the Illinois phosphorus puzzle: quantifying statewide streambank erosion in inform effective nutrient loss reduction strategy | UI | Margenot | $ 286,382 |
| Updating Illinois phosphorus and potassium soil test recommendations for the 21st century | UI | Margenot | $ 86,870 |