We are thrilled to announce we were awarded funding from the 2020 Illinois Specialty Crop Block Grant Program to continue our work to increase knowledge and consumption of Illinois specialty crops.
 

The Illinois Specialty Crop Block Grant program is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Marketing Services’ Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. The goal of this program is to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops, which are defined as “fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, and nursery crops.” The Land Connection has been a recipient of the award numerous times throughout the last decade and, through this funding, has been able to develop quality and necessary programs for farmers and consumers in our community.
 

Over the last two years TLC has used funding from the Illinois Specialty Crop Block Grant Program to develop a specialty crop card and resource series. Now that these resources exist, we want to make them useful to our entire community. In 2020, TLC will focus on adapting pre-existing resources such as online blogs, specialty crop cards, recipes, etc. into easier to read versions and multi-language versions. Additionally, we will develop a short video series to accompany the resources that will make learning about Illinois specialty crops a possibility for all.
 

Thank you Illinois Department of Agriculture!