Sales Overseas Boost US Pork, Helping Defray 2020’s Challenges
Pork producers in the Midwest had great hope for 2020, in part because China was still rebuilding its swine herd after a devastating African swine fever…
Midwest Farmer Invents ‘Cluster Cluck 5000’ To Bring Livestock Back To Crop Fields
Zack Smith pats the snout of a pig that stretches up to greet him from inside the back pen of a mobile barn. On this field, Smith planted alternating…
“Lo arriesgo todo o nada”. La necesidad de trabajar supera las COVID preocupaciones para migrantes
En las afueras de Rantoul, en el centro-este de Illinois, unos 100 trabajadores agrícolas migrantes están viviendo en un viejo hotel localizado en una…
Farmers See Wildly Different Yields In Derecho-Damaged Corn Fields
Farmers are wrapping up the harvest in much of the Corn Belt and finally seeing how much they can get out of derecho-damaged fields. The August…
Widespread Drought On The Great Plains Could Impact 2021 Growing Season
Much of the Great Plains is experiencing drought: So far, at least half of Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa, and Oklahoma are abnormally dry, with large areas…
Voices From Illinois’ 15th Congressional District
Illinois’ 15th congressional district is one of two in the state where no incumbent is running. But this article is about the district itself, not
‘Either I Risk It All Or Nothing At All’: Migrant Workers’ Need To Work Outweighs COVID-19 Concerns
On the outskirts of Rantoul, in east-central Illinois, about 100 migrant farmworkers are living at an old hotel in a sleepy part of town. Every day at…
State Database Reveals Details Of Covid-19 Outbreaks In Champaign County
URBANA — Previously confidential statewide data tracking coronavirus cases across Illinois shows that there have been at least 50 different outbreaks in Champaign County traced
Plans For Agriculture Differ, But That Issue Is Unlikely To Sway The Presidential Election
Farmers are looking closely at what they might be able to expect from four more years of Donald Trump versus a Joe Biden administration, but they aren’t…
Gardening Is A ‘Silver Lining’ For Many Weary Of The Coronavirus Pandemic
In the midst of what has otherwise been a heavy, unrelenting year, many Midwesterners have found solace in the dirt. So-called “COVID gardens” have…
