This is the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction podcast episode 68, building better waterways, installing wood chip bioreactors. I'm University of Illinois Extension's Todd Gleason. You know, today, we're going to listen in on a couple of conversations Helen VanBeck of the American Farmland Trust had during the fall of 2024 as a bioreactor was being installed at the end of a waterway on Brian Corkill's farm in Henry County, Illinois. Now VanBeck is a program manager and responsible for the American Farmland Trust's interaction with the Illinois Sustainable Ag Partnership, otherwise known as ISAP, and Saving Tomorrow's Ag Resources or STAR. She works closely with partners across Illinois to advance the adoption of conservation practices that are proven to build soil health, improve water quality, and, of course, support climate resiliency, adaption, and mitigation.

On this fall Friday, Helen and farmer land owner Brian Corkill were watching the Johnston brothers install a second bioreactor on his farm near Galva. Helen had just asked Brian to tell her about himself and the farm.

So my name is Brian Corkill, I farm I raise corn and soybeans, also do a lot of work with cover crops and some edge of field practice, conservation practices. So we're here today. We're installing a bioreactor, to remove nitrates from tile water.

And what types of water management practices have you implemented on your farm to help improve water?

So from a water management standpoint, we've been adding waterways to farms. Also, cover crops help with water management. We've done some tiling projects on some farms to help with water management, and we actually have an existing bioreactor that we put in 4 years ago in conjunction with the one that we're doing now.

And what motivates you to advance conservation practices and help reduce nutrient loss?

So I guess it's how I was raised. So so conservation has always been a part of kinda what my family's done. Goes clear back is I didn't know my great grandfather, but I know he did stuff. My grandfather and my father, started with no till and and, conservation tillage at the time back in the 70s where they were probably the first ones that started that moved away from moldboard plowing to more of a conservation tillage, and we started no tilling in, the early 80s So that's kinda always been part of my DNA.

So now I'm just trying to take it to the next level as I take over the farm, have full control over the farming operation.

So talk a little bit about some of the benefits that you've seen.

Sure. So implementing no till and cover crops, we've seen a lot of improvement on our soil health from a visual standpoint, and we've also noticed that, we've cut back quite a we haven't completely eliminated applying commercial fertilizer, but we've been able to drastically scale back what we would have put on in the past. So, and then also with the with the bioreactors from our current existing bioreactor, there are water samples that get pulled every month, and we've been able to see, you know, kinda what the impact of that is on the amount of nitrates going in versus going out. So, while maybe bioreactors can't cover a huge amount of ground in singularity, every little bit helps. So that's why we're putting in another one to to try to help make as much of an impact as we can.

So sometimes we hear from people when we talk about edge of field practices that there was not a big return on investment. Can you talk about why you think those practices are important and kind of what else besides that ROI did you take into consideration?

I guess my feeling is trying to leave things better than when I took it over. So if if we can make an impact to help the environment, even if it might be a little thing, but every little thing that's done helps. So, that's kind of the way I look at it. It isn't all necessarily all about the return on investment. It's about making an impact on the environment and leaving things better than when I got here.

What advice would you give to farmers who are thinking about installing a bioreactor or might be interested?

You know, seek out guidance. There there is funding available out there, you know, whether it's through CSP or or private grant funding, things like that. You know, there there are ways to to be able to fund that. If you're truly interested in doing something like this, there are ways to to get that done and and work with the groups and and things like that.

So talk a little bit about why a bioreactor was the right practice here and not a saturated buffer or other

I guess, why we chose bioreactor here, this probably isn't a really good spot for a saturated buffer and we and we have an existing bioreactor and we've seen the benefits from that. So I actually looked into 2 years ago starting a new CSP contract, looked at putting in another bioreactor, and the the funding really wasn't available for that type of project. So talking to other people, I was able to get, you know, some other funding and some help out to do this. So I felt like in this spot, a a bioreactor would be a much better fit than something like a saturated buffer or something like that.

And then kinda walk us through the process of, you know, kinda start to finish. You reached out to NRCS. Right? And they did the kinda take us through what the process is.

So because we had worked with NRCS on our first bioreactor through a CSP contract, when we started thinking about doing this again, didn't really have anybody that could do the design work, so we went back to NRCS and they were willing to do the design and engineering. And we have a contractor that we've worked with for a long time that that has done tiling projects for us, did our first bioreactor. So they were a natural fit to to do this one and reach out to them and worked out a timeline, and and they got the, obviously, design, and and they're very familiar with working that with that kind of stuff. So, and then we here we are today in construction.

Construction that farmer Brian Corkill and the farmland trust Helen Van Beck had been watching through the morning hours. I'm University of Illinois Extension's Todd Gleason. As a reminder, you're listening to the Illinois nutrient loss reduction podcast. Now David Johnston and his brother, Brian, were doing that installation of the wood chip bioreactor.

I'm David Johnston, and, my brother and I, Brian, have, been in this an awful long time. And we do tiling and any type of earthmoving.

And so, obviously, today, we're here installing a bioreactor. Can you talk about how that kinda fits into your your business model and what might incentivize you to to do more of installing these kinds of practices?

It's really neat to see people experimenting with them and seeing, you know, how to get rid of more of the nitrates.

If there's a farmer out there who's interested in installing one of these, what should they know about working with the contractor to get them installed?

Oh, well, hopefully, they find the contractor that's got the basic knowledge of, how to accomplish something like this. But,

Yeah. When's the best time to install them in your experience and sort of start to finish? How long does that process take from when a farmer should reach out to you versus when you can Oh.

Be ready to install? We have done some of them in the summer when the crops are up. It's actually been very nice this year on this one being we've been

so dry

Yeah. That it made the tile work a lot easier.

Yeah. How large is this bioreactor gonna be?

Well, it's 9 foot wide and 36 foot long, and the wood chips are supposed to come up, approximately, a little over 4 and a half foot.

Mhmm. And then you'll cover it?

Yes. And then there, we'll cover that with, after the wood chips are in, then it gets covered with geotextile fabric.

Mhmm.

The fabric, by the way, keeps soil from making its way into the wood chips. The water needs to flow through the bioreactor in order for it to work properly, and the soil would just clog it up, make it dirty. And that's not the point, says Brian Corkill.

We obviously play a huge role in in in keeping waterways clean and safe. Obviously, municipalities and things like that do as well, but we all have to do our part. And, you know, we we obviously control as farmers as a whole, control a lot larger areas. So any practices that we can do to help keep our waterways clean and safe and and, you know, help with the hypoxia zone and and things like that, I think we that's what we need to do is we need to do our part.

That's Brian Corkill. He is a farmer near Galva in Henry County between the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. He's concerned about the welfare of the soils on his farm and the nation's lakes, streams, and rivers. Among the many practices he uses to keep his soils in place are waterways to which he has now added two wood chip bioreactors. Those are in place to remove nitrates from subsurface tile drainage water at the edge of his fields and before it can enter the nation's waterways.

Bioreactors do not interrupt any practices occurring in the field nor do they change the effectiveness of the tile drainage systems. A wood chip bioreactor is considered an edge of field practice. You've been listening to episode 68 of the Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction podcast today with Helen VanBeck Beek of the American Farmland Trust, the Johnston brothers, Brian and David, who did the bioreactor installation, and the farmer, Brian Corkill Our program was produced with the aid of Rachel Curry, Nicole Haverbach, and Emma Eldridge, all like me with University of Illinois Extension. I'm Todd Gleason.