34 November 4, 2014 2014 LOGAN COUNTY FARM OUTLOOK MAGAZINE LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com
W
hat’s bred in the ground
O
ne morning early in September, local
farmers came together to hear some of the
latest on land stewardship and crop production.
The Illinois Stewardship Alliance hosted the
in-the-field Sustainable Agriculture program at
PrairiErth Farm near Atlanta.
One of the guest lecturers was crop science
researcher, Dr. Bill Becker, better known as “the
Crop Doctor.” Dr. Becker is an agricultural
consultant based in central Illinois, but he does
work all over the county. Becker shared his
method of evaluating a field and some of the
latest breakthrough measures in sustainable
agriculture.
Becker implements a full system analysis
approach. He looks at each field, even its
quirks, and uses biology, chemistry and physical
factors in his recommendations.
Continued
→
Dr. Bill Becker of Agrosystems
Management, Inc. explains how he
uses a “systems approach” to farming.
Dr. Becker was a guest lecturer in
during a field day at PrairiErth near
Atlanta in September. The event
was hosted by Illinois Stewardship
Alliance.
Other topics of the morning included
Cover Crops, Value adding with
diversity, as well as research projects
being conducted at University of
Illinois and Illinois State University.
Photo by Curt Fox
Story and photo by Jan Youngquist
