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Galesburg Register-Mail
Local Growers Network Provides Fresh Produce

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Bloomington Pantagraph
Thinking Globally; Eating Locally

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National Geographic
Our Good Earth: Where Food Begins

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Chicago Tribune
Support your local farmer: Movement to eat food grown within 100 miles of home is gaining traction

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Overview

Since 1995 Illinois has permanently lost roughly 100,000 acres of farmland per year. And of our remaining 27.3 million acres of farmland, 70% is used to grow subsidized commodity crops that neither feed the people of Illinois nor provide adequate income for farmers and their families.

Sustainable and organic food production can be a highly profitable form of farming—as well as one that is good for people and the environment. Today less than 3% of Illinois farms are growing food marketed directly to consumers and only about 0.1% of Illinois farmland is certified organic.

The Land Connection was founded in 2001 to ensure that Illinois’ incredibly fertile land is conserved for its highest possible use—growing local foods to feed our communities. To help save the vast acreage of farmland now in jeopardy, we are acting to help farmers acquire and transition more farmland for sustainable use in the immediate future, and connect new farmers with these opportunities.

The Land Connection’s farmland, Apple Corner, has hosted over six different farmers in an incubator program designed to help new farmers get started.

Program Descriptions

The Land Connection has three specific program areas that use innovative strategies to permanently conserve farmland for diversified, sustainable use: Farmland Conservation, Farmland Match, and Farmland Management. While these programs are initially for direct use in Illinois, our approaches are designed to become national models.

• Farmland Conservation: acquires farmland or the development rights on farmland, through donation or purchase, and places an agricultural easement on the land to ensure that the land remains farmland;
  
  
• Farmland Match: connects farmers with farmland owners, providing opportunities for lease or purchase of farmland; and
  
  
• Farmland Transition: provides farmers and farmland owners with data on the process of transitioning to organic food production, including the economic return.