This past week, I had the great pleasure of attending the annual meeting of the Farm Beginnings Collaborative hosted by the Organic Growers School in Asheville, NC. The Land Connection is one of thirteen organizational members of the collaborative, all of which offer Farm Beginnings®, a yearlong training program that provides farm business-planning sessions, on-farm […]
SWCD Conservation Series
by Erin Bush, Resource Conservationist, CCSWCD A recap of the Conservation Series, hosted by the Champaign County Soil & Water Conservation District, Farm Bureau, and supported by The Land Connection, February 24, March 3, and March 10, 2020, Champaign, Illinois. Earlier this year at a watershed meeting, the Champaign County Soil & Water Conservation District […]
Strip Grazing for Soil Health
by Ted Krauskopf, Hickory Flat Cattle Co. As a producer, I recognize the benefit of rotational grazing versus set stock grazing. In 2008 we expanded the pasture on our farm to include a total of 90 acres of former cropland plus about 20 more acres of a combination of timber area, and some riparian area […]
Growing a Regional Supply Chain for Organic Agriculture
A recap of the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council’s Farmer Forum, February 25, 2020, Beck’s Hybrids, El Paso, IL What comes first, the chicken, the egg, or the processing plant? This question was posed by Cavan Sullivan of Petersburg Poultry Processing at last week’s Greater Peoria Economic Development Council’s (GPEDC) Farmer Forum. Cavan answered that […]
Return to Form
by Lisa Bralts I’m sure you know how it is. Everything’s ready to go. Supplies have been acquired; plans are in place. Said plans are verging on being put into action when some external factor – over which there is no control – comes rudely into play. Perhaps that external factor is weather (it often […]
CSA FAQs and CSA Fair Information
With the CSA Fair coming up this Saturday, we wanted to make sure that you had all of the information you might need regarding CSAs. The CSA Fair takes place during the Urbana Business Association’s Market IN the Square on Saturday, March 7. The CSA Fair allows community members to learn about the various Community […]
