In 2021, NREC is funding 34 projects. The $4 Million available for funding 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, bio-reactors, and wetlands.
2021 NREC Projects
2021 NREC Funded Research Projects – Project Objectives
| Project Title | Institution | PI | 2021 Project Budget |
| A Long-term Evaluation of Nitrogen Application Timing and Cover Crops Impacts on the Fate and Availability of Nitrogen Fertilizer and Crop Production on Tile Drained Fields | Purdue | Armstrong | $190,437.00 |
| The effect of cover crops on surface water quality: A paired watershed experiment in the Lake Bloomington watershed | Purdue | Armstrong | $211,508.00 |
| Nitrogen placement and application timing for best efficiency, growth, and yield of corn across Illinois | UI | Below | $49,610.00
|
| Watershed-scale response of agricultural systems to drainage water management in Central Illinois | UI | Bhattarai | $98,332.00
|
| Assessing tile depth and spacing impact on nutrient losses and crop production | UI | Bhattarai | $49,970.00
|
| Drainage water management and saturated buffers for achieving NLRS goals | UI | Christianson | $20,581.00
|
| Bioreactors for Illinois: Smaller, Better, Faster | UI | Christianson | $14,715.00
|
| On-Farm Evaluation and Demonstration of Reduced Off-Farm Nutrient Transport through Drainage Water Recycling | UI | Cooke | $74,804.00
|
| Web-based Decision Support Tool for Cover Crop Management | UI | Coppess | $78,000.00
|
| Reducing Nutrient Loads in WASCOBs in Southern Illinois | UI | Gentry
| $91,688.00
|
| Evaluating nutrient loss reduction strategies: longer rotation with cover crops and bioreactor (Miller Project) | UI | Gentry
| $128,533.00
|
| Nitrogen management systems in tile-drained fields: Optimizing yields while minimizing losses (Douglas County Project) | UI | Gentry
| $237,354.00
|
| Assessing Suitability and Benefits of Cover Crops in Illinois | UI | Guan | $20,000.00
|
| Towards Management of Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction to Ammonium for Nitrate Retention in Agricultural Soils | UI | Kent | $90,011.00
|
| Evaluating slow‐release P fertilizers to increase crop production and environmental quality | UI | Margenot | $41,506.00
|
| Reducing P Loss in Southern Illinois: Producers, Practices, and Productivity | UI | R Christianson
| $101,338.00
|
| Precision Nitrogen Management of Corn for Improving Farm Profitability and Water Quality in Southern Illinois | SIU
| Sadeghpour
| $174,446.00
|
| Nitrogen Rate Research & NREC Project Partnership | IFCA
| Schaefer
| $313,300.00
|
| Water and Sediment Control Basins (WASCoBs) influence on Crop Yields and Water Quality | SIU
| Schoonover
| $143,507.00
|
| Modelling and Designing Saturated Buffers for Nitrogen and Phosphorus Mitigation in Illinois | SIU
| Schoonover
| $136,191.00
|
| Insect Management in Cover Crop Systems | UI | Seiter
| $43,192.00
|
| Water quality and agronomic impacts of gypsum applications in Southern Illinois | SIU
| Williard
| $130,398.00
|
| Minimizing phosphorus and nitrogen loss from agricultural systems with cover crops and tillage in Southern Illinois | SIU
| Williard
| $189,917.00
|
| Designer Biochar to Capture and Recycle Phosphorous from Tile Drainage Systems | UI | Zheng
| $96,833.00
|
Capitalizing on 150 Years of Soil Samples to Determine Legacy P and Improve Water Quality in Illinois
| UI | Margenot
| $226,732.00
|
Characterizing sub‐field variability for efficient phosphorus management: targeting hotspots
| UI | Fraterrigo | $65,453.00 |
Managing the maize microbiome for sustainable nutrient retention in Illinois agricultural soils
| UI | Kent
| $127,635.00
|
Next Generation Cover Cropping in Corn-Soybean Rotation to Improve Farm Benefits and Decrease Environmental Losses in South and Central Illinois
| SIU | Sadeghpour
| $153,824.00
|
Integrating livestock grazing into the western Illinois corn-soybean cropping system to enhance farm profitability and reduce nutrient loss
| WIU | Bernards | $84,242.00
|
Sources and cycling of nitrate in tile‐drained corn‐soybean rotation systems: A stable isotope approach
| UI | Yu | $132,475.00
|
Integrating Tillage, Soil Carbon Dynamics, and Tile Nitrate Loss (Eric Miller)
| UI | Gentry
| $218,242.00
|
Detection and attribution of recent changes in phosphorus loadings in the Illinois River watershed
| UI | Markus
| $49,993.00
|
Knowledge is power: Powering up bioreactors and saturated buffers in Illinois
| UI | L Christianson
| $174,873.00
|
