Professor Shares Cutting-Edge Research With Students andBroader Community
- ilaimproject
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Along with implementing conservation practices on his own family farm, Illinois Central College (ICC) Professor Pete Fandel shares his passion for soil health with countless students who participate in the advanced research projects that he conducts on campus. He has taught at ICC for 16 years and previously worked for Illinois Extension, where he collaborated with and learned from Mike Plumer and has tried to continue some of the conservation work that Mike was promoting. On his own farm, Pete has implemented several NRCS practices, including cover crops, pollinator habitats, and filter strips.
According to Pete, the filter strips on his farm have had a great impact, including crop insurance benefits, water quality improvement, and less damage from wildlife. He said, “Lo and behold, it was probably one of the best decisions that I had ever made to take that outside 30 feet out of the production because it pulled the yield average for the whole rest of the field up much higher, and then I also noticed the wildlife damage further in the field is less, because even though you think they would just go further into the field and do damage, they don’t. So instead of having 8 to 10 rows destroyed by wildlife, you might have the outside row a little damaged.
During his time at ICC, Pete has conducted many studies, including a large herbicide trial that examined herbicide carryover injury on different cover crop species, a paired field study comparing nutrient loss through tile water, variety trials and water quality studies on cover crops, a bioreactor, and a one-acre artificial wetland. Most recently, Pete designed a floating wetland on the campus pond at ICC, studying the ability of plants to remove nitrates and phosphorus from the water
Inspired by the 5 by 10 foot floating islands along the Chicago River shorelines that were constructed with recycled materials to house plants, Pete had the idea of using these for more than aesthetic purposes. These were planted in the spring of 2025, but results from the first year were skewed by the drought that occurred between August and October last year, which caused the pond to drop two feet, increasing the concentration of nutrients. With the spring rains, the pond is now full again, and Pete placed the sensors back in the water last month. This is a three-year study, so he plans to collect results for the rest of this year and next year.
Describing the floating wetland study, Pete said, “A lot of people are watching that project because it’s very unique, and I think there are a few other colleges we are working with in other states through the Community College Alliance for Agriculture Advancement that may be interested in trying something similar on some of the ponds on their campuses if they get funding to do that. I think other schools will start trying it depending on how my results pan out, so I’m hoping some other schools do it too.”
Pete teaches many agriculture courses, including soil fertility, crop sciences, crop production, integrated pest management, ag business, and ag math, and enjoys involving students in his research and incorporating these projects into the classroom. He said, “We have a big nitrogen trial that we run every year on the campus, and the students get to run that trail as part of the soil fertility class to learn about how you set up, search and monitor plots. Then in the fall, my crop science class harvests that plot and crunches all the numbers off the plot and learns how to do that. So, we involve the students in the research that goes on here as part of the coursework.”
Along with ICC students, Pete also shares his knowledge with other agriculture professionals through continuing education programs, community events, and represents ICC as a member of the Illinois Sustainable Agriculture Partnership (ISAP). Helen VanBeck, Midwest Program Manager at American Farmland Trust, said, “Pete has represented Illinois Central College in ISAP since the group formed in 2017. Beyond his valuable contributions informing ISAP’s soil health programming and resources, Pete also connects ISAP to the community college system, a critical resource in developing and preparing agricultural professionals throughout Illinois. ICC’s membership and Pete’s contributions have helped ISAP’s soil health programming remain relevant and additive to broader soil health education efforts across the state.”
Sharing his experience using ISAP’s rainfall simulator at different community events, Pete found a way to reach more farmers by further emphasizing the water infiltration aspect of cover crops. He said, “I take that tray, which is only like three inches deep… and after you’ve done that whole rainfall experiment, you can take that bare soil tray, dump it out, and the soil on the bottom of that tray is bone dry, the water never got to it. That has caught a lot of people’s attention… they realize all that water that’s running off is not infiltrating into the soil, therefore you don’t have any stored water in your soil profile for later use for the crop. To me, I’ve had more of an impact with farmers on flatter ground seeing that than the erosion side of that demonstration.”
In August, the '26-'27 cohort of ISAP’s Soil Health Leadership Program will kick off their first session with Pete at ICC. Emphasizing the value that Pete adds to this program, Helen said, “The demonstration sites on Illinois Central College’s campus highlight a variety of in-field and edge-of-field conservation practices, making it the ideal place to host the first session of ISAP’s Soil Health Leadership Program. The field tour at ICC will include a soil pit showcasing the benefits of no-till, cover crops on soil structure, a demonstration plot of dozen cover crop species. These opportunities to see the soil health practices up close and in action are a critical component of the Soil Health Leadership Program. In the first session, Pete shares a wealth of knowledge on soil fertility and the impact of conservation practices on soil health, drawing from his experience as a professor of agriculture at ICC and his own personal experience on his farm.”
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