Are you looking for farmland? learn the pros/cons of leasing and buying discover creative ways to find the right property get lists of helpful resources and step-by-step suggestions Are you a landowner? learn about all your options: long-term lease, sell with easement, and many more maintain income and flexibility for you or your estate find […]
Guide to Transitioning to Organic Grain Production in Illinois
Introduction Illinois is known for its soil, and the swath of drummer silty clay loam, or black dirt, running across central Illinois, is considered some of the most fertile in the world. Despite the exceptionally productive soil, most farmers use conventional methods that employ synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides. Those methods, coupled with plowing, […]
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Illinois Specialty Crop Card Series
Illinois Specialty Crop Podcast Series
Our Illinois Specialty Crop Podcast Series showcases specialty crop producers and growers here in Illinois and looks at the stories are behind their farms. The short interviews are recorded by Jim Lewis at WDWS NewsTalk 1400 in Champaign, IL. All of the producers featured in the series sell their products at local farmers markets or […]
Season Extension: Marty Gray
Marty Gray is the co-owner of Gray Farms Produce in Watseka, IL. We interviewed him on an icy day in February 2015, just as his protected crops were beginning to put on new growth with the lengthening days. Marty took us through his high tunnels and indicated the many pieces of equipment and infrastructure that […]