Latest Agriculture News From The Illinois Newsroom Team
U of I hopes a new greenhouse will be an incubator for bioenergy crops.
University of Illinois officials held ceremonial shovels Wednesday morning, for a groundbreaking ceremony marking the start of construction on a new greenhouse. It will open next summer in the Urbana-Champaign campus’ Research Park and be used for research into bioenergy crops.

How small rural towns can access Inflation Reduction Act funding
Rural towns and utilities could get funding for all kinds of projects through the federal Inflation Reduction Act — but experts say it will take

Worried about spying and tensions with China, Midwest states want to limit who can buy farmland
Legislation is being proposed at the federal and state level to restrict foreign ownership of farmland, especially by China. The scrutiny comes after a Midwestern

The federal government isn’t actually measuring how inflation is hurting rural America
The consumer price index is widely used by Americans to determine inflation, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics only surveys American counties that include a

Budzinski tours ag research at U of I and visits with laid-off Akorn workers in Decatur
U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski visited the University of Illinois Research Park in Champaign on Thursday. But first, the central Illinois Democrat stopped in Decatur, where more than 400 pharmaceutical plant workers had been abruptly laid off by Akorn Pharmaceutical.

Weather stations that provide critical climate data are threatened by unstable funding
Accurate weather information is important for farmers, emergency responders and researchers managing extreme conditions. But many monitoring networks are limited by unstable, patchwork funding. VALPARAISO,

Rep. Sorensen ‘optimistic’ Congress can beat farm bill deadline
MOLINE — Congress has a tight deadline to approve a new farm bill. Central Illinois congressman Eric Sorensen, D-Ill., is part of the U.S. House

Illinois food deserts grow as rural grocery stores close
CHAMPAIGN – Food deserts have long been associated with urban areas where full-service grocery stores are hard to find. But rural areas also struggle with

GMO food labeling has been required in the U.S. for a year. Have consumers noticed?
Take a look at the back of the cans and boxes in your cupboards and you’re likely to see some that say “contains bioengineered food

Illinois congresswoman says U.S. farmland is under threat of foreign control
CHAMPAIGN – Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL15) on Monday introduced a bill that would place a five-year moratorium on U.S. land purchases by foreign nationals. The

Plans for a CO2 pipeline in Illinois are on hold
CHAMPAIGN – Plans for a carbon dioxide pipeline in Illinois have been temporarily halted. Navigator Heartland Greenway LLC has voluntarily withdrawn its Application for a

Farmers and farm workers are still waiting for agricultural labor reform after proposal stalls
Congress failed to pass immigration reform in December that would have provided a path to legal status for migrant farm workers and capped wages.

Why the price of eggs, a food staple for breakfast and baked goods, has risen so sharply
Consumers may have gotten used to seeing higher food prices at the grocery in the last couple of years, but egg prices have risen more than any other food product, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Consumer Price Index.