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Illinois S.T.A.R program highlights environmental improvements

Positive environmental changes are outlined in the first annual report for the Illinois S.T.A.R. program.

Saving Tomorrow’s Agriculture Resources, known as S.T.A.R., is a free program in which farmers fill out a field form about their conservation practices to receive a star rating.

The 2019 report shows the use of cover crops, no-till and strip till practices combined accounted for more than 4,500 truckloads of sediment kept out of Illinois waterways, more than 19,000 pounds of phosphorus kept in fields and the carbon dioxide equivalent of removing more than 7,900 passenger cars from the road for a full year.

In 2019, more than 200 farmers used the tool on more than 80,000 acres.

Illinois ag director Jerry Costello says the department looks forward to working with S.T.A.R. coordinators to get more conservation on Illinois farms in the 2020 crop year.

Organizations in Iowa and Missouri are working to offer a similar program.