A “treerrific” idea 🏕

The Illinois Pork Producers Association is offering a tree buffer grant program for farmers to implement fresh landscaping on their pig farms – and it has already been utilized across the state during recent years. 

• A buffer is an area of trees that are strategically placed to provide a windbreak, recycle clean air, and provide curb appeal to the landscape. 

The incentive is one of the best management practices that pig farmers are embracing to benefit the environment, says Jennifer Tirey, executive director of the IPPA.

• The grant is offered to Illinois pig farmers on a first-come-first-serve basis, and the funding of up to $2,500 covers the purchase of trees and shrubs, as well as design and tree placement, but not installation costs.

A local extension educator and an environmental engineer may be called upon in a group effort to ensure the farmers have all the right tools they need to create a useful tree buffer.