The Nutrient Research & Education Council (NREC) was created in 2012 by the State of Illinois and is managed by representatives from farmer organizations, commercial fertilizer, specialty fertilizer, certified crop advisors, and IDOA. The council is a public-private partnership that assures a sustainable source of funding for nutrient research and education programs (illinoisnrec.org/). The partnership between NREC and IDOA ensures that an assessment of $0.75/ton on all bulk fertilizer sold in Illinois is allocated to research and educational programs focused on nutrient use and water quality. From 2012 to 2018, NREC invested $16 million in nutrient efficiency research. In 2019, an additional $4 million will be directed towards applied research with another $50,000 for outreach and education activities.
The Nutrient Research & Education Council funds research projects in four main categories with specific issues identified in each of the categories.
- Applying and understanding the 4Rs—identifying BMPs and expanding the understanding of these practices related to more efficient fertilizer applications and using those nutrients for crop production.
- Capturing excess nutrients in the field, primarily using cover crops, with a focus on finding the most economical methods for adopting these methods on a wide scale.
- Mitigating the loss of excess nutrients to water supplies through edge-of-field practices—woodchip bioreactors, wetlands, saturated buffers, water and sediment control basins, and other practices de-
signed to capture nutrients before they enter water supplies.
Studying other nutrient management issues, including the impact of tile depth and spacing, the use of gypsum, and drainage water management, as well as emerging topics such as dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium for nitrate retention and the use of biochar to remove phosphorus from drainage water.
The Nutrient Research & Education Council also encourages education-based projects that incorporate research findings and effectively promote BMP implementation to farmers and crop advisers.
The group works with industry stakeholders to identify needs and prioritize areas of research. Annually, NREC requests proposals for projects that examine, test, and measure the effectiveness and economic viability offarming practices that reduce nitrogen and phosphorus losses to water and are not detrimental to agricultural production or yield.
In 2018, NREC hired a full-time research manager who is engaged in soliciting and reviewing comprehensive research projects and is connecting researchers working in similar fields across the state and region.
