News & Updates

December 6, 2023 Maggie Soliz recently came face-to-face with agricultural diversity in her native Kane County. Located 45 miles west of downtown Chicago, Kane County is a model for proactive land use planning. Voluntary farmland preservation conservation easements are among tools used to strike a balance between the needs of the county’s urban and rural communities. Soliz is the product of the old Fox River towns on the east edge of Kane County. She grew up in St. Charles, r

December 6, 2023 Illinois Prairie Pollinator Rain Garden at the Kane County Farm Bureau, Saint Charles. Located 45 miles west of Chicago’s Millennium Park, Kane is Illinois’ fifth most populated county and the Land of Lincoln’s leader for proactive land use planning to support agriculture. Three decades ago, Kane County leaders watched suburban sprawl transform neighboring DuPage County. The Kane County Development Department director then referred to DuPage as “our living la

November 21, 2023 Tammy Willis, the new USDA State Conservationist for Illinois, came away from the recent 75th annual conference of the Association of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts with a strong sense of optimism. “As we look ahead, I’m excited for the potential of our organizations working together,” she said. “We have a unique opportunity to share resources, knowledge, and expertise that will help us all achieve greater success in conserving our soils, wat

November 19, 2023 David Brandt – the man in the meme – looks like somebody sent from Central Casting to a movie director who wanted The Quintessential Farmer on the set. But truth is stranger than fiction, and Brandt was not an actor. He was the real deal. Randall Reeder, The Ohio State University Extension agricultural engineer, co-authored an article for No-Till Farmer with Brandt and others in May about the importance of conservation practices that build soil health. “Dave

November 17, 2023 Agricultural innovation, like the crops we grow, must come from the bottom up. Some big ideas may come from laboratories and think tanks, but it’s at the ground level – in a farmer’s hands – that things take root. Through a $14 million federal grant, the Natural Resources Division of the Illinois Department of Agriculture is taking AIM. The target – in collaboration with farmers – is to reduce nutrient loss, build soil health, manage water resources, increas

November 16, 2023 Derek Welveart’s occasional childhood work detasseling corn, walking bean fields, and baling hay on the farmland around his hometown of Atkinson, in west central Henry County, was more about money in his pocket than a love of the land or a passion for agriculture. But it nonetheless planted a seed. Welveart died June 17 in the early weeks of a new job as one of 40 conservation planners assigned to Soil and Water Conservation Districts around the state to spr

November 14, 2023 For the past 50 years, Dennis Frey has been farming patches of the rolling Southern Illinois terrain in Hamilton County that is now entering its fifth generation in the family. When he started, it was a traditional diversified family farm, with hogs, cattle, corn, soybeans, wheat, barley, and other crops. Over time, it evolved to almost exclusively row crops, particularly corn and beans. But over the last decade or two, it has continued to evolve. Today it i

November 6, 2023 Precision Conservation Management is a free, farmer-first program that provides one-on-one support to qualifying farmers to help them understand the costs and benefits of conservation practices. PCM Supply Chain Partnerships create a financial advantage for farmers who are using regenerative ag practices. We seek to make conservation easy and effective, while reducing financial risk for farmers. Benefits: When you work with PCM you get access to experts, cos