An Agronomic Service - Dedicated to helping farmers increase conservation practices    

PCM is About

Precision Application of Conservation Practices

Precision Application of Conservation Practices

Apply currently-available precision farming technology to optimize results of conservation practices.

Farm Business Management Principles

Farm Business Management Principles

Utilize farm business management principles to make financially-favorable conservation decisions.

Continuous Improvement

Continuous Improvement

Allowing farmers to demonstrate their good stewardship practices and demonstrate continuous improvement.

One-on-One Consultations

One-on-One Consultations

Providing one-on-one consultations with conservation experts to give farmers the information, resources, and confidence to adopt new practices.

Our Services

Why farmers choose NOT to adopt BMPs

Why Not?

We asked farmers 'What are your greatest challenges in adopting conservation practices?'
Here's what they said.

I'm Ready to

I’m Ready To

LEARN MORE!

What Is Precision Conservation

What Is

Precision Conservation Management

PCM News

PCM Newsletter

Economics of Conservation

Economics of Conservation: An Inside Look at Two Programs Making Waves in Illinois Water Quality.

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PCM Newsletter

Explore Sustainable Farming, Sustainability and More!

Explore Sustainable Farming, Sustainability and More!

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PCM Newsletter

Welcome to the Fall 2017 PCM Newsletter!

A lot happened this summer with PCM. Our enrollment coordinators signed up over 50 new cooperators this summer.

Welcome to the Fall 2017 PCM newsletter! A lot happened this summer with PCM. Our enrollment coordinators signed up over 50 new cooperators this summer. In April, we hired 2 new PCM Specialists, Jacob Walker and Chris Stewart —check out their bios on the last page.

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Economic Benefit of Conservation

What Is the Economic Benefit of Conservation for YOUR Farm?

Precision Conservation Management (PCM), a new agriculture program, analyzes the economic value of conservation.

Precision Conservation Management (PCM), a new agriculture program, analyzes the economic value of conservation. PCM works with farmers to identify and consider conservation opportunities as business decisions.

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PCM program in Kentucky

Precision Conservation Management Program Comes to West Kentucky

The Precision Conservation Management program in Kentucky.

The Precision Conservation Management program in Kentucky hired their first specialist in April - Chris Stewart, a 20 year retired Army veteran and small scale livestock producer from Lyon County.

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Hires New Specialist

Illinois Precision Conservation Management Program Hires New Specialist

PCM is currently available in 12 counties in Illinois

The Precision Conservation Management (PCM) program in Illinois has hired Jacob Walker, a Hopedale farmer, to the position of conservation specialist.

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Water Quality Research

Community College Installs Water Quality Research Site

Interseeding cover crop study continues.

A central Illinois community college not only will teach students with field demonstrations of water quality practices but also will collect much needed data while treating tile water from campus fields.

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Sustainability Good For Business

Making Sustainability Good For Business

A call to help us strengthen the economic case for sustainability practices

Suzy Friedman is senior director for agricultural sustainability at the Environmental Defense Fund. In her blog, she shares insights, stories and tips about how farmers, grower organizations, agribusinesses and food company/retail partners can work together to create a U.S. agricultural system that drives climate stability, clean water and food security.

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Field to Market

Field to Market

Field to Market Announces Full Integration of Sustainability Metrics into Leading Platforms for Farm Management, Precision Agriculture, and Decision Support

The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture today announced a comprehensive integration between the sustainability metrics and algorithms of the Fieldprint® Platform and leading precision agriculture, decision support and farm management software solutions.

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Drinking Water

Dead Zones & Drinking Water

Dead Zones & Drinking Water: Update on Precision Conservation Management

As previously reported, USDA awarded a coalition of partners led by the Illinois Corn Growers and the University of Illinois a $5.3 million Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP) agreement.

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Conservation

Values of Conservation

Helping farmers realize dollar values of conservation

Precision Conservation Management (PCM) is a new agriculture program created by the Illinois Corn Growers Association in association with Illinois Farm Bureau, the University of Illinois, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and 30 other partners.

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Corn Growers

IL Corn Growers

IL CORN PRECISION CONSERVATION PROGRAM RECEIVES NATIONAL GRANT.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill.—A precision conservation program geared to get more farmers engaged in best management practices that protect water quality and prevent nutrient loss has been awarded a multi-million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The grant application was led by the Illinois Corn Growers Association.

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Help farmers

WILL-AG

The PCM program has been specifically designed to help farmers.

The PCM program has been specifically designed to help farmers meet the voluntary best management practices suggested in the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy, which aims to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus losses (runoff) by 45 percent.

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Closing Market Report

WILL-AG Audio Interview with Todd Gleason

Closing Market Report - February 12, 2016.

Mike Zuzolo, Global Commodity Analytics and Consulting - USDA Awards ICGA, UofI ACES, others $5.3M for PrecisionConservation.org - Nate Cline, The Andersons - Eric Snodgrass, Agrible - willag.org.

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Illinois State University

WGLT NPR from Illinois State University

Midwest To Be Used As Model For Conservation Efforts.

Illinois, Iowa, and Kentucky will be the proving ground for land and water conservation across the United States. The efforts aim to reduce the amount of chemical runoff to keep the land fertile and increase water quality.

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WTAX New Radio

WTAX New Radio

Grant Encourages Better Farm Conservation

If you’re a farmer in the 21st Century, you’re probably hearing about – if not practicing – “precision farming.” And that extends to conservation practices, too.A public-private partnership, funded by a $5.3 million grant, will promote precision conservation management, as unveiled this afternoon at the Illinois Corn Growers’ Association offices in Bloomington.

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RFD Radio

FarmWeekNow.com/RFD Radio

USDA awards grant for precision conservation program.

Illinois farmers can soon integrate farm business decisions with conservation practices through a new innovative project U.S. Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment Robert Bonnie announced Friday in Bloomington. The $5.3 million project is one of 84 Regional Conservation Partnership projects Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack unveiled.

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WJBC

WJBC - The Voice of Central Illinois

USDA awards grant for precision conservation program.

BLOOMINGTON – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is awarding a $5.3 million grant to a program Under Secretary Robert Bonnie believed could have an impact throughout the country. The Precision Conservation Management (PCM) program is aimed at getting more farmers involved in conservation efforts.

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The Pantagraph

The Pantagraph

Conservation grant awarded to Ill. Corn Growers.

BLOOMINGTON — A conservation program designed to get more farmers engaged in best management practices that protect water quality and prevent nutrient loss has been awarded a multi-million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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The DeWitt Daily News

The DeWitt Daily News

Precision Conservation Program Receives National Grant.

A precision conservation program geared to get more farmers engaged in best management practices that protect water quality and prevent nutrient loss has been awarded a multi-million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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ACES

University of Illinois College of ACES

Precision Conservation Management program receives multi-million dollar investment.

URBANA, Ill. – When making decisions about conservation practices, farmers must weigh financial risks, consider labor availability and cost, and manage time commitments. But the University of Illinois, the Illinois Corn Growers Association, and 30 other partners with agricultural interests have developed a new farmer service program – Precision Conservation Management (PCM) – to help farmers make those decisions.

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Web Tool

Corn Growers Promote Web Tool

If you are farming in the 21st Century, you are probably practicing “precision agriculture.”

If you are farming in the 21st Century, you are probably practicing “precision agriculture.” That gets the most yield out of the ground with the least waste — in these days of low profit margins.If you are farming in the 21st Century, you’re probably computer-savvy now.“We are helping farmers put the dollars and cents into risk management of conservation practices, so they can factor it into their full farm business plan, so it’s really about the business of conservation,” says Laura Gentry, the Illinois Corn Growers Association’s water quality research director.

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RCPP Agreement

Precision Conservation Management RCPP Agreement

The Precision Conservation Management RCPP proposal was submitted by the Illinois Corn Growers Association in

The Precision Conservation Management RCPP proposal was submitted by the Illinois Corn Growers Association in Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 and approved as an RCPP National Project in FY 2016. The 5-year project will utilize $456,000 in financial assistance through the Environmental Quality Incentives Program in Kentucky. The project’s primary goal is to address water quality resource concerns on cropland located in specific watersheds in Illinois and Kentucky.

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National Grant

PCM Program Receives National Grant

A precision conversation program focused on getting farmers to engage in best management practices that concentrate on profitably and

A precision conversation program focused on getting farmers to engage in best management practices that concentrate on profitably and environmental sustainability has been awarded a multi-million dollar grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Illinois Corn Growers Association (ICGA), AgSolver, and 21 other agriculture entities were awarded the grant for their Precision Conservation Management (PCM) program at the ICGA office on February 12, 2016.

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Conservation Corner

PCM Conservation Corner

NRCS will offer special funding for precision conservation management through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP).

NRCS will offer special funding for precision conservation management through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP). Precision conservation management is an innovative service program designed to apply financial farm business planning information with precision conservation technology to help farmers make intelligent conservation decisions. NRCS has partnered with the Illinois Corn Growers Association to help producers address resource concerns, such as water quality and soil health.

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FARM & FIELD

FARM & FIELD

A precision conservation program geared to have more farmers engaged in best management practices that protect water quality and

A precision conservation program geared to have more farmers engaged in best management practices that protect water quality and prevent nutrient loss has been awarded a multimillion-dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.The Illinois Corn Growers Association submitted the Precision Conservation Management program for funding under the agency's regional conservation partnership program.

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ILLINOIS CORN

AGRIBLE JOINS ILLINOIS CORN FOR PCM PROGRAM

Agrible, Inc. has partnered with the Illinois Corn Growers Association (ICGA), as well as 30 other agricultural organizations

Agrible, Inc. has partnered with the Illinois Corn Growers Association (ICGA), as well as 30 other agricultural organizations, to implement the Precision Conservation Management Program (PCM), which was recently awarded a $5.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/ programs/farmbill/rcpp/?cid=nrcseprd598407#il). The PCM program is designed to help farmers use the best practices to protect water quality and prevent nutrient loss.

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ABOUT US

Precision Conservation Management

Farmer-led, Financially Viable Conservation

PCM is a farmer-led effort developed to address natural resource concerns on a field-by-field basis by identifying conservation practices that effectively address environmental issues in a financially viable way. PCM specialists work with farmers to identify conservation needs and use data from agronomic management practices, economic models, and sustainability metrics to develop customized solutions.

The data, stored in a secure agronomic database, can be used for the following:

  • Consultations with Precision Conservation Specialists
  • Assistance with enrollment in Field to Market, NRCS, and other conservation programs
  • Assessments of BMP performance on crop productivity, soil health, and farm profitability

The mission of the PCM program is to increase adoption of voluntary conservation practices by commodity crop farmers and animal producers in the Mississippi River Basin by assisting farmers with selection of financially-favorable best management practices (BMPs) for their unique farming enterprise.

PCM is in Illinois and the counties of

  1. Champaign
  2. Christian
  3. Douglas
  4. Edgar
  5. Ford
  6. Livingston
  7. Macoupin
  8. Mclean
  9. Sangamon
  10. Tazewell
  11. Vermilion
  12. Woodford

Illinois Counties
PCM is in Kentucky and the counties of

  1. Carlisle
  2. Christian
  3. Daviess
  4. Fulton
  5. Graves
  6. Henderson
  7. Hickman
  8. Logan
  9. McLean
  10. Todd

Kentucky Counties

Illinois Corn

Improving Business & Regulatory Policy

Illinois Corn Growers Association, representing the interests of corn farmers in Illinois, works to constantly improve the business climate along with the regulatory and policy environment for corn production at the local, state and national level.

The Illinois Corn Growers Association (ICGA) is an association made up of nearly 5000 corn farmers from all over our state. ICGA is governed by a board of directors and represents Illinois corn farmers in Washington, DC as well as Springfield, IL on a myriad of issues that affect Illinois agriculture, corn farming, and rural life.

The ICGA board of directors is made up of eighteen farmers that derive a majority portion of their income from growing corn. Fifteen of those farmers represent the corn farmers in their specific districts. Three more are at-large directors, representing corn farmers all across the state.

ICGA is a member state of the National Corn Growers Association; every member of the Illinois Corn Growers Association is also a member of the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA). But what separates NCGA from other national agriculture associations is that NCGA activities and positions are guided and funded by their member states. Policies and positions are vetted through member states and corn farming “delegates” every year in March at NCGA’s Corn Congress.

Illinois Farm Business Farm Management

Decision-Making Assistance

FBFM is a cooperative educational-service program designed to assist farmers with management decision-making. It provides help with business and family records. Computer assisted record processing options are available either on farm or at service centers. It provides financial and production business analysis reports. An experienced Farm Analysis Specialist helps interpret analysis reports and counsels on management problems. The specialist meets regularly with each cooperator throughout the year. FBFM cooperates with the University of Illinois, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics and University of Illinois Extension, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, and local FBFM Associations. There are nine local not-for-profit associations in the state.

University of Illinois

College of Aces

The University of Illinois is recognized worldwide as one of the great public universities, and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) has been there from day one. In ACES we use what we discover through cutting-edge research to ensure nutritious and safe food, sustainable and innovative agriculture, strong families and communities, and environmentally sound use of natural resources. The end result? Betterment of the lives of people, not only in Illinois but around the world.

The College of ACES is a global leader in the most promising areas of scholarship in the agricultural, consumer, and environmental sciences. We are known for our globally competitive students, our first- class discovery research, and the innovative knowledge we share.

Heartland Science and Technology Group

Scientific Research & Engineering Development

Heartland Science and Technology Group (Heartland) is a nonprofit corporation organized for scientific research, engineering development, and educational purposes. Our mission includes providing educational, technical, and business services and solutions and fostering the transfer, integration, and utilization of university, government, and private industry research for public and social good purposes.

Heartland's role in the PCM program is to provide technical solutions to collect, analyze, and share precision farming, economic, and sustainability data in a trusted and secure manner. As such, we are the developers of the PCM website and database. Our expertise includes software development, scientific computing, engineering analysis, analytical and computational model development, and the application of state-of-the-art technology (e.g., unmanned aerial systems) to agriculture. Our software development experience ranges from developing first principles scientific and engineering computational software and analysis tools, to managing and hosting government accredited web servers and databases for sensitive but unclassified data.

In addition to PCM, Heartland provides support to programs to improve the management and protection of our natural resources, create secure and easy to use big data solutions, and develop instrumentation to measure the makeup of water and soil samples. Heartland is also leading an effort to establish a collaborative scientific software community that will enable private and public organizations to research, develop, and employ scientific and high performance computational codes while preserving proprietary methods, processes, and information.

More information about Heartland can be found at www.heartlandstg.org.

OUR PCM TEAM

The Power to Protect Yield Potential. PCM is a recognition of both the technological advances in farming and the individual farm management challenges embedded in larger regional conservation efforts.


JOIN  -   New Farmer Registration

Where Business Meets Conservation

PCM is a program created by farmers for farmers to increase adoption of conservation practices in commodity crop and animal production systems. PCM combines farmers’ business goals with their conservation interests.

PCM's services for farmers includes the following:

  • Education , outreach, and consultation.

  • Enrollment and compliance assistance for federal (NRCS) and local conservation programs.

  • Assistance with sustainability assessment and interpretation using Field to Market’s Field print Calculator.

  • Capturing & demonstrating farmer stewardship and continued improvement in an aggregated, anonymous way.

  • Identifying “conservation best bets” - those practices that consistently result in water quality improvements and are neutral or beneficial to farmer profitability.

  • Identify practices that are effective for water quality but expensive to implement - target those for additional compensation.