CY26 Numbers Soaring over CY25, Revealing Huge Demand for STAR Tool

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*as of 7/21/26

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Less than two months into Crop Year 2026, Illinois STAR has surpassed the total number of acres using the STAR Tool for CY25 by over a quarter million! As of July 21, 654 producers across 89 counties entered field forms, covering 407,046.4 acres. This is tremendous growth, particularly when considering that CY23 ended with just 50,500 acres total for the whole year. CY24 had 67,000 and last year (CY25) had 121,000. The program has grown 140% in enrolled acres in two years (from 2023 to 2025). This is real growth and, while anticipated, is incredible to watch in real time.

Our Siemer Milling Company Producer Rewards Payment Program also launched on June 1 and already has 95 fields from 15 producers, spanning 4,959.66 acres! Over 3,700 acres registered in the first five days! This is also a huge increase from the one singular farmer who applied when we launched the pilot program in 2023.

The acres that have received STAR Ratings so far for Crop Year 2026 are clear evidence that farmers are pursuing conservation and using the STAR Tool. One of the greatest strengths of STAR is the STAR Navigator network of SWCDs who spend hours advising and providing technical assistance to producers. These Navigators have done so much to ensure that producers receive a STAR rating and meet eligibility requirements for cost-share programs, as over half of them uploaded paper forms for these farmers! We truly appreciate their work and would like to celebrate the progress this program has made over the past 3 years.

Below are some more detailed stats on the current enrollment (as of 7/21/26).

Total Fields: 5,963

Total Producers: 654

Total Acres: 407,046.4

Counties Represented: 89

Crop Types Represented: Alfalfa, Corn, Double Crop Barley/Sorghum, Double Crop Barley/Soybeans, Double Crop Corn/Soybeans, Double Crop Soybeans/Oats, Double Crop Winter Wheat/Corn, Double Crop Winter Wheat/Sorghum, Double Crop Winter Wheat/Soybeans, Durum Wheat, Grass Hay, Millet, Oats, Pasture/Grass, Pumpkins, Rye, Snap Beans, Soybeans, and Winter Wheat

Repeat forms (going back through CY24): 710 <-- this means that we have 5,253 fields that are first time users of STARtool.ag!

Average STAR Rating: 3.55

Program Acres

FLASH: 3,724.26

Delta Project: 6.28

FS Cover Crop Program: 94.96

IDOA CPRG: 260,128.15

IDOA I-Cover: 6,054.25

IDOA PFC: 10,693.75

Lake Decatur RCPP: 0

NRCS CSP: 20,901.5

NRCS EQIP: 2,359.88

NRCS Other: 1,629.25

PCM: 30,522.15

Siemer-STAR PRPP: 4,959.66

SWOF: 11,525.15

Sustainability oriented cert: 0

Total acres across all programs: 292,740

Total acres not enrolled in any programs: 114,012.4

It has been so inspiring to see more and more farmers working to put conservation on the ground and witness the improvements this has made to the soil health and water quality on their land. We are also incredibly grateful for everything that our Illinois STAR partners, Steering and Science Committees, Navigators, Verifiers, Diversified Ag Working Group, family and friends have done to support us in these achievements and look forward to watching these numbers grow as the Crop Year continues!