The Gardner Agriculture Policy Program is funded by the Leonard and Lila Gardner/Illinois Farm Bureau Family of Companies endowment. This generous gift is dedicated to the memory of Len Gardner, a leading voice on agricultural policy for decades. The program will coordinate and prioritize analytical and outreach efforts for farm, conservation and international trade policies, elevating the University of Illinois’ voice in the national debate.
The cover crop project seeks to provide farmers with a practical web-based decision support tool designed to help manage cover crops in their fields. The project makes use of existing research to demonstrate the potential for cover crops, as well as providing useful information for decision making and management of this practice. It will also seek to apply future research on cover crops as results are incorporated into updates and new iterations of the tool. This remains a work in progress with a goal towards adapting with the science.
Latest in Gardner Policy Series
Evaluating Impact of House Ways & Means Proposal for Tax Changes
New details for a potential $3.5 trillion spending and tax package were released by the House Ways & Means Committee on Monday September 13, 2021, including a proposal for funding new policies advanced by Democrats. This package includes proposals for…
Pandemic Assistance to Illinois Agricultural Producers in 2020 from the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP) and the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP)
In response to market disruptions and economic harm caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the U.S. federal government initiated a series of relief programs for U.S. consumers and businesses, including farmers and ranchers. Of these programs, the two rounds of…
Projected 2020 Commodity Title Payments
Given increases in prices since the late summer of 2020, commodity title payments for the 2020 marketing year will be limited. Price Loss Coverage (PLC) payments are not projected for corn and soybeans. Agriculture Risk Coverage at the county level…
Using farmdoc Tools to Make the ARC-CO and PLC Decisions
Two tools are available on the farmdoc website for evaluating Commodity title choices faced by farmers. The first is the 2018 Farm Bill What-If Tool, a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that calculates payments under differing price and yield scenarios. The second…
Farmdoc 20 Year Retrospective on Agricultural Trade (In Chart Form)
For some of us, 1999 doesn’t feel like it was that long ago. We were two years into the Asian financial crisis, and commodity prices were in the dumps. We were watching the release of the Matrix, living la vida…
2020 Growing Season Weather & Climate Summary
Although perhaps not as challenging as 2019, the 2020 Illinois growing season weather was remarkable. From late spring and early fall freezes, to wet-dry-wet swings, to drought that visited most of the state, and even a derecho, in this article…