
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

Returning to Troubled Waters, Part 3: A Detour Back to Congress
The Supreme Court’s consideration of Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (Docket No. 21-454; Gerstein, October 3, 2022) presents an opportunity to reconsider the Clean Water Act’s troubled definition of navigable…
Mulling over Margin, Part 4: Lessons from Canada’s Whole-farm Margin Protection Program
Introduction High farm input costs, especially for fertilizer and fuel, have reinvigorated arguments for farm support programs where payments are triggered when the cost of production rises. Historically, cost of…
PLC and ARC Payment: 2021 Payments and Outlook for 2022 and 2023
The Farm Service Agency (FSA) recently released all the information necessary to calculate 2021 commodity title payments. For 2021, Price Loss Coverage (PLC) did not make payments for corn, soybeans,…
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…
Wet, Cold, & Gloomy: Comparing Early Spring 2022
Strong and consistent flow of Pacific air masses brought frequent rain and persistently cool, overcast weather that harkened back to challenging springs like 2011 and 2019. But how does this…
Price Later Contracts and the Illinois Grain Code: An Update from the Court’s Decision in Miller v. Department of Agriculture
In 2003, Illinois significantly revised its Grain Code to provide additional protection to famers in the event a state-licensed grain dealer or warehouse fails. A grain elevator that stores grain…
On Agriculture & Antitrust: A Brief Summary of Legislative History
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Increased prices, new and continuing supply chain problems, and more in the wake of Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic may be reinvigorating discussions and questions about…