Whalens see success in conservation, nutrient management efforts

STREATOR, Ill. — When Jay Whalen was hired as a seed specialist 17 years ago, he began using his farm for testing the company’s various products.

Seeing the success of those trials, Whalen changed the way he farmed and has since reaped the benefits, particularly with cover crops and a different approach to nutrient management.

Whalen, a fifth-generation farmer, farms alongside his father, John, and his sister, Melissa Whalen Smith, in Livingston and La Salle counties.

His 50/50 corn-soybean rotation includes using cover crop mixes ahead of both crops.

“I was hired by ProHarvest as a seed specialist in 2009. One of the things ProHarvest wanted as a company was somebody to do research and somebody to help promote cover crops because, of course, we were wanting to sell the seed,” he said.

“So, I kind of used my farm for the testing, because if I’m going to sell the product — whether it’s cover crops, corn, soybeans, whatever it is — I like knowing what I’m selling and if it works. I ended up using my own operation as basically the experimental farm for them to help promote cover crops.”

Seeing that success, all of his corn and soybean acres have been in cover crops for nearly 10 years, combined with no-till and some strip-till.

Cover Species

“Right now I’m planting cereal rye on the cornstalks in the fall ahead of beans. On the bean ground ahead of corn, I have been applying half the acres with oats and radishes, and the other half of the acres with annual rye and radishes. Only having a portion of the acres being overwintering on the corn side helps me manage it and getting things done timely in the spring,” Whalen said.

“My main focus now is looking to add more species into the mixes. We’ve been kind of struggling getting the clovers to grow and overwinter and things like that. So, we’re still experimenting trying to get that stuff to go.”

Seeding

He typically broadcasts cereal rye with a seeder or with a drone.

“I’ve also planted it in-crop with a Hagie. I’ve just been having a hard time getting stuff to grow in high-bushel corn and big, tall plants. It has a hard time getting established and growing. So, I end up putting it on after the corn was harvested and having a nice even stand,” he said.

“For the soybeans, we do it aerially into standing crop. We’ve had pretty good results the last two years using the drone.”

Nutrition

Whalen uses humic acids as part of his fertility program and applies either urea or UAN, urea ammonium nitrate, for his nitrogen program.

Humic acid is a natural soil conditioner designed to improve nutrient uptake and water retention and stimulates beneficial microbial activity and overall plant vitality.

“I’m on year two of not applying dry fertilizer — no DAP, no MAP, no potash. I get ag-grade humic acid. It comes in mini bulks and totes. The humic that I get comes out of Canada. I broadcast it with my own broadcast seeder and it works really well,” he said.

“I’ve been putting 50 to 75 pounds of humic an acre on and I’ve been getting pretty good results and seeing good things with that.

“On that fertility side, since 2013 I’ve been experimenting with the Haney test for my soil testing. For the past eight years I’ve been doing every acre solely with the Haney test because I’m looking at more of the organic side of my soil tests than I am the inorganic.

“With doing the Haney testing and organic testing, I’m looking at stuff that’s more readily available and looking at more of the organic side. That’s what’s helped in pulling back on applying the inorganic fertilizer, because by my tests, I’m not needing it. I’m still increasing my fertility on the organic side by what I’m doing, and I don’t need the inorganic fertilizer.”

Cost Savings

Moving away from the need for diammonium phosphate, monoammonium phosphate and potash has resulted in substantial cost savings.

Since early 2025, DAP prices are over 19% higher, MAP is up nearly 17% and potash has seen a 10% increase.

“It’s kind of nice not paying that. I’m trying to get the word out about what I’m doing because I look at my record books and I’m like, how are these other farmers doing it? How are they making it, having to pay these fertilizer prices because I’m not really paying them besides nitrogen? I’ve totally got it out of my system,” Whalen said.

“And not knowing at the time when I started this, I knew I wanted to cut back on the dry fertilizer just because I’ve heard a lot about the heavy salt and things like that. When I started doing it, I wasn’t looking at it cost-wise. I was just looking at it for my soil health, but now that the costs have gone up, it’s even more beneficial for me.

“When you start getting high salt contents and putting that artificial fertilizer in, it ends up hurting us more than it’s helping us.”

Benefits Of System

Since moving to cover crops, he noted a 10-fold improvement in his soil.

“It’s just absolutely amazing — the tilth, the water infiltration. We recently had 1-inch rain in a day and there were neighbors that had water standing in your normal water hole spots. I didn’t have a field that had an ounce of water sitting in it. It’s just amazing. It’ll take that water in a whole lot faster and easier and it’s totally changed my soil structure,” he said.

Programs

In past years, the Whalens transitioned away from enrolling in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Stewardship Program and Environmental Quality Incentives Program to other opportunities to offset the cost of cover crops and receive carbon sequestration payments.

“I’m enrolled in the Precision Conservation Management program. We have also signed up for the government’s strip-till/no-till program and the state’s I-COVER Program,” the farmer said.

“If everything goes well, I’m going to be getting close to $150 an acre in payments for cover crops, no-till, strip-till and carbon, which is another huge benefit to the operation.”

PCM

PCM was created in 2015 by the Illinois Corn Growers Association in response to the state’s Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy. The program provides free technical assistance to identify solutions for the protecting the environment and farmers’ bottom lines.

It also provides carbon payments from companies such as the Pepsi Corporation for implementing conservation practices.

The Whalens have been enrolled in PCM for four years.

“My biggest selling point is I researched a lot of carbon programs and I did not like any of them until PCM came. What I really liked with PCM is it’s not a three-year or five-year commitment. You just renew it if you want every year, which I have done every year since,” the farmer said.

As part of PCM, he works closely with Aidan Walton, PCM specialist for north-central Illinois.

“It only takes maybe a total of three hours out of the year. It’s basically two to three meetings with Aidan. He takes all of our information. He does all the hard work and the legwork, and I get a book that compares my operation to the field, to the farm, to farms in my area, to the county and to the state. I’m able to look and how my operation is running compared to any of them,” he said.

“I really use that information all year long. It tells me my most profitable field, my least profitable field — they give information that I use to make decisions on my operation.

“I literally sit with their book and their information and I sit with my Haney soil tests. I use both of those books to make all of my fertility decisions, my seed decisions because they’ll show me their information that tells me where this hybrid did the best on what soil types.

“They just give a lot of information that I feel is beneficial and that’s why I went with them and used them.”

There is no cost for enrolling the program, and participants are paid $250 a year for their time and providing information, as well as carbon payments.

“It’s a win-win across the board with PCM. They have been absolutely fabulous,” Whalen said.

“Their main supporter is the Pepsi Corporation and they’ve added one or two other large companies that are seeing the benefits that PCM is doing and more coming on board now, which is wonderful.”