Audio Recording

The Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Podcast was created in 2018 to provide information to farmers on conservation practices and strategies that can be utilized to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus nutrient losses from the state to reach the goals listed in the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy. Each episode of the podcast features a different topic such as cover crops, woodchip bioreactors, managing livestock to reduce nutrient loss, reducing tillage, and so on. An expert in the subject and a farmer or conservation professional who has successfully implemented the practice are typically featured and asked a tailored set of questions for the particular subject matter in order to provide technical assistance to listeners to adopt the practice. Since its debut to date, 24 episodes of the podcast have been released with nearly 4,300 online listens and thousands more on a popular agriculture radio show, “Closing Market Report”. Illinois Extension Watershed Outreach Associates Jennifer Woodyard and Haley Haverback-Gruber determine the subject matter, questions, and guests for each episode and co-produce them with Todd Gleason, Extension’s Media Communications Specialist, who hosts, records, and edits the podcast. Guests have been recorded in Todd’s studio at the University of Illinois campus and over the phone, but he also has recorded guests at events such as the Farm Progress Show and Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy Annual Conference. The submission for this award is Episode 24 of the podcast titled, “Watershed Planning: What is it and Why Farmers Need to be Involved”. In the episode, which was recorded in February 2020 at a live event (with the exception of Haverback-Gruber who was recorded later on the phone), Trevor Sample with the Illinois EPA discusses watershed planning and why it is important. Woodyard and Haverback-Gruber share about watershed planning efforts they have ongoing around the state and why farmers need to be involved. A local Soil and Water Conservation District employee, Erin Bush, shares why her SWCD is invested in watershed planning and the positive impact it can have on farmers in her county. The episode can be listened to on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/narrowrow/episode-24-watershed-based-planning