Over the past year, The Land Connection’s staff has chosen to spend some of our staff meeting time as a book club. Having sat through many hours of staff meetings at this office, it felt time to shake up our standard format. It was also clear in 2020 that, as a white led organization, we […]
Blog
Farm to School – It’s Local and Important to Teach
by Dan Doeing, Agricultural Educator, Urbana High School I’m willing to admit that I don’t often think about where my food is grown. Even as the agricultural educator and FFA advisor at Urbana High School, considering where food is grown and how it got to my plate is typically not my first thought going into […]
Our Regional Grain Value Chain, Illustrated
by Alyssa Hartman, The Artisan Grain Collaborative In May we celebrated a birthday—our grain value chain illustration has finally come to life and is ready for use as an educational tool. We saw the need for a visual aid to describe the many intersecting relationships required to sustain our regional grain chain in the […]
Land Access Solutions for Illinois’ Next Generation Farmers to Launch this Fall
Beginning farmers in Illinois face many barriers to building successful agricultural enterprises. Securing access to farmland is consistently rated as the number one challenge, particularly so in Illinois given there is no single place for farmers or farmland owners to turn to for advice, resources, and assistance with land access. The Land Connection is thrilled […]
Reporting and Documenting Symptoms of Herbicide Drift on Plants and Trees
by Kim Erndt-Pitcher, Habitat and Agricultural Programs Specialist at Prairie Rivers Network The warm weather is here again… While you are getting ready to plant, weed, and harvest the fruits of your labor or when you pause to taste some spinach, smell a flower, or watch a bee, please take a moment to look closely […]
Iron Meadows Flower Farm, A Photo Story
by Cay Diamond, Farmers Market & Outreach Manager This month I had the opportunity to visit Iron Meadows Flower Farm and get the scoop on their second season of growing! Jessica Eisenmann, owner of Iron Meadows, began selling flowers at the Champaign Farmers Market during our COVID season of 2020 and at that time fell […]
