Latest Agriculture News From The Illinois Newsroom Team
Rantoul village trustees will vote on cannabis craft grower proposal
The Rantoul Village Board has agreed to vote next week on whether to allow a cannabis growing operation to open in the village. Rantoul trustees agreed to take the vote after hearing a new presentation Tuesday night from Blake Schilb.

Budzinski tours ag research at U of I and visits with laid-off Akorn workers in Decatur
U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski visited the University of Illinois Research Park in Champaign on Thursday. But first, the central Illinois Democrat stopped in Decatur, where more than 400 pharmaceutical plant workers had been abruptly laid off by Akorn Pharmaceutical.

Weather stations that provide critical climate data are threatened by unstable funding
Accurate weather information is important for farmers, emergency responders and researchers managing extreme conditions. But many monitoring networks are limited by unstable, patchwork funding. VALPARAISO,

Rep. Sorensen ‘optimistic’ Congress can beat farm bill deadline
MOLINE — Congress has a tight deadline to approve a new farm bill. Central Illinois congressman Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., is part of the U.S. House

Illinois food deserts grow as rural grocery stores close
CHAMPAIGN – Food deserts have long been associated with urban areas where full-service grocery stores are hard to find. But rural areas also struggle with

GMO food labeling has been required in the U.S. for a year. Have consumers noticed?
Take a look at the back of the cans and boxes in your cupboards and you’re likely to see some that say “contains bioengineered food

Illinois congresswoman says U.S. farmland is under threat of foreign control
CHAMPAIGN – Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL15) on Monday introduced a bill that would place a five-year moratorium on U.S. land purchases by foreign nationals. The

Plans for a CO2 pipeline in Illinois are on hold
CHAMPAIGN – Plans for a carbon dioxide pipeline in Illinois have been temporarily halted. Navigator Heartland Greenway LLC has voluntarily withdrawn its Application for a

Farmers and farm workers are still waiting for agricultural labor reform after proposal stalls
Congress failed to pass immigration reform in December that would have provided a path to legal status for migrant farm workers and capped wages.

Why the price of eggs, a food staple for breakfast and baked goods, has risen so sharply
Consumers may have gotten used to seeing higher food prices at the grocery in the last couple of years, but egg prices have risen more than any other food product, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Consumer Price Index.

Amid a national egg shortage, local farmers continue to deliver
CHAMPAIGN — Americans have felt the pain of inflation in grocery stores this year. The USDA estimates that the cost of groceries was 10.6 percent

Midwest states court indoor hog and poultry production, despite the millions of gallons of manure
Legislation and programs in states like Missouri and Nebraska are paving the way to welcome large livestock operations by limiting local control over the facilities.

Broadband map holds the key to how much federal funding states will get to expand internet service
States, local governments and internet providers have until Friday, Jan. 13 to challenge the Federal Communications Commission’s National Broadband Map.