More acres are now available for the Illinois Department of Agriculture’s Cover Crop Program.
20,000 additional acres have been added to the fall Cover Crop Program. State Ag Director Jerry Costello says recipients will be chosen from the overwhelming number of initial applicants.
“We have filled 140,000 of those acres is what we had. So we are adding 20,000 so we will be able to fill 160,000 acres of the 182,000 that were applied for.”
Costello explained the environmental advantages to the program.
“This program does a number of things. Number one it helps us meet our nutrients loss reduction strategy, obviously it helps as far as run off. If you look at cover crops they are excellent for carbon capture as well.”
Eligible applicants receive a premium discount of $5-per acre on their crop insurance. The new acreage comes thanks to state and federal funding.
