Saving Tomorrow’s Agriculture Resources (S.T.A.R.) is a FREE nationwide tool to assist farm operators and land owners in evaluating their nutrient and soil loss management practices on individual fields. S.T.A.R. was created by the Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District, a not-for-profit government agency located in central Illinois. The program was developed in 2017 as a means to contribute to the important goals outlined in the state’s Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (NLRS), a plan developed jointly by the Illinois Department of Agriculture and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Since its creation, S.T.A.R. has been adopted in many counties in Illinois by a multitude of organizations, including many soil and water conservation districts.
The 2019 Crop Year Annual Report begins after harvest in 2018 and runs through harvest of 2019. This report looks back on the initiative’s growth and impact on Illinois and beyond over the past year.