Agriculture

Christmas tree drama: Why many states want to get rid of the eastern redcedar
Back when Kelly Roberts was a kid during the 1970s, her family would scout their northeastern Oklahoma pasture every year, looking for the perfect eastern

USDA predicts lower 2024 crop prices, but that won’t immediately show up at the grocery store
The agriculture department’s annual projections show a slowing economy and lower crop prices for the upcoming year. The USDA also looks ahead to the next

Should the U.S. keep old trees around to store carbon or cut them down? It’s a heated debate
Deep in northern Michigan’s Huron-Manistee National Forest, the air reverberates with the sound of a tree harvester picking up fully grown jack-pines out of the

Are the Midwest’s rural areas finally seeing population growth after a decade of decline?
A recent study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that the population in rural areas is on the rise after a decade of decline.

Weather experts in Midwest say climate change reporting brings burnout and threats
Chris Gloninger was excited to start his new job as chief meteorologist at KCCI, a TV station in Des Moines, when he moved to Iowa

A USDA program gives a second chance to food that stores won’t sell — but is perfectly good to eat
Over 100 billion pounds of food goes to waste every year in America. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm to Food Bank is trying to cut

Here’s how much money farmers make when you buy your Thanksgiving meal
Farmers got a slightly smaller percentage of what consumers spent on food last year than the year before, according to the most recent report from

A ‘magnificent harvest’ for the pumpkin crop in some areas — despite dry conditions
Drought has affected several pumpkin-producing states, including Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. But rain arrived at the right time to produce a bumper crop in parts

Service techs will be trained for AGCO dealerships at new Parkland facility
A new facility at Parkland College in Champaign will train students to become service technicians for farm equipment made by AGCO. A groundbreaking ceremony was held Thursday for the AGCO Training Center.

The Piatt County Board, with reluctance, approves the county’s first wind farm
The Piatt County Board voted 4-2 on Friday to approve a special use permit for a wind farm in the county. But several members made it clear they were approving the Prosperity Wind project reluctantly, as a new Illinois law gave them no real choice in the matter.

Farm-based activities can support mental wellness. Why aren’t there more care farms in the U.S.?
Care farms are agricultural places for people with physical or mental health challenges to process their emotions, while performing farming tasks and working with animals.

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.