Jones honored for work with soybean growers

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Jennifer Jones’ career has centered on working in collaboration with farmers and organizations to improve water quality and soil health.

She was honored for her efforts when she received the 2022 Soybean Master Adviser Award by the Illinois Soybean Association at the annual Soybean Summit on Feb. 1.

“The ILSoyAdvisor Master Adviser Award goes to a qualified CCA in Illinois whose certification is active, is interested and involved in soybean management and works with farmers. This nomination-based award is part of ISA’s effort to recognize CCAs for contributions to Illinois soybean production,” said Steve Pitstick, ISA chair from Maple Park.

Jones recently took the helm as ISA agronomy manager where she works on behalf of soybean farmers in the development and implementation of conservation agricultural research and outreach programs.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in natural resources and environmental sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a master’s degree in agronomy from Purdue University.

In her former role as watershed outreach associate for U of I Extension, Jones developed working relationships with local partners within the watershed, such as farmers, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Illinois Farm Bureau to motivate and educate farmers and landowners to voluntarily adopt conservation practices to improve water quality and soil health.

“This was a very unexpected honor. It was a surprise to be nominated and I just feel very honored to receive it and for the person who nominated me and the selection committee to select me for this. There are so many great advisers in Illinois and it’s truly an honor to even be thought of for the award, let alone selected for it,” Jones said.

She started her new ISA position just over a month ago.

“We’re coming on as the agronomy team with a lot of ideas for different research projects, especially related to conservation for growers. We’re excited to try and help them find the best economical way to incorporate conservation onto their operation, especially things like cover crops and no-till, which we’ve been learning about here at the Soybean Summit,” Jones said.

“So, we’re really excited looking towards the next growing season to doing a lot of field days, outreach and education, creating fact sheets and different mechanisms of outreach videos and things like that centered around conservation and also carbon, just things farmers are dealing with right now and trying to find their way through.”

Nutrient Loss Goals

Her work with soybean farmers also fits into the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy with its goal to reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorus in Illinois waterways by 45% and interim reduction goals of 15% nitrate-nitrogen and 25% total phosphorus by 2025.

There is extensive work left to reach these goals. The most recent Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy Biennial Report found that “additional resources, outreach and land and facility improvements are necessary to meet the NLRS main objective of improved water quality” in the state.

“The beauty of the different conservation practices that we like to recommend is that they can help us reach those water quality goals, but they can also help growers improve their own soils’ health and maybe even store some carbon. It’s great that we can try and learn more about these different practices and have that all-inclusive goal of improving lots of different resources for the environment,” Jones said.

“So, we’re going to try to help farmers who are curious about these things find the resources that they need to be able to adopt them on the farm and we’re really excited to actually go to the field and work with growers. They can call us and we’re happy to come out, do site visits and walk them through steps if they’re interested in switching to no-till or adopting cover crops or edge-of-field practices such as saturated buffers. We can help them find the resources they need.

“We’re just really excited to come alongside growers and help them meet the needs that will not only help our state’s nutrient loss reduction goals, but also improve the farmer’s own ground for future generations to come.”