I grew up within a block of a corn field on the east end of Springfield. Nearly every weekend of those years we’d visit the relatives on their farm outside Beardstown; over the potholes and through the corn, to grandmother’s house we’d go, with me entranced by the corn rows, like the spokes of a […]
agriculture
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Breaking down what goes into your food
As the buy local/eat local movement continues to grow, Illinois families are beginning to transform their food experience. On Feb. 20, Lincoln Land Community College welcomed almost 100 participants to the 10th annual Composting Symposium. During the symposium, guests were invited to listen to business models and share personal composting ideas. They also learned how […]
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Ag experts: Farm bill delay endangers food supply
As Congress wrestles over an agriculture bill that will set policy for the next five years, local farmers and ag experts worry the delay could endanger a variety of important programs when the current bill expires at the end of September. The Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate passed a so-called “Farm Bill” in June, while the Republican-controlled […]
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Neighbors must pay damages for delaying hog shed
An appellate court in Springfield says opponents of a pig farm outside Rochester must pay for delaying the project. However, neither side is overly happy with the outcome. “It’s a mixed bag,” says Springfield attorney Thomas Immel. His client, Rochester pig farmer Robert Young, won a $24,000 award of damages earlier this month – far […]
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Gambling on the fairgrounds
Step right up! Welcome to the Illinois State Fairgrounds, where kids can milk cows, and cows can win ribbons and anyone 21 years and older can contribute to an electronic, press-a-button, hear-a-beep, wait-to-(probably)-lose-while-it-looks-like-you’re-winning casino king’s cash cow – the slot machine. Gambling opponents say that’s what Springfield should expect to see if Gov. Pat Quinn […]
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Feds censure state on farm waste
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says Illinois fails to regulate manure from certain livestock farms, calling on the state to completely revamp its system of oversight or risk losing its enforcement authority. In a report released in late September, the U.S. EPA says the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has not fully implemented a federally mandated […]
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Why are there so few black farmers?
Urging his fellow lawmakers to release funding for a discrimination lawsuit originally settled more than a decade ago, U.S. Sen. Roland Burris last month pointed to the increasingly homogenous culture that is Illinois farming. The still unreleased funding would go to farmers, or former farmers, who had been affected by systematic racial bias in the […]
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Should pig opponents have to pay?
A contested hog farm in Rochester is once again the topic of debate as the group formed to stop the farm’s construction fights to avoid paying almost $300,000 in damages. Last month, the Illinois 4th District Appellate Court ruled that Rochester farmer Robert Young was entitled to damages caused by an injunction that delayed the […]
