A new law passed last year requires the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to develop rules regulating the closure of ponds that store waste from coal-fired power plants. The agency released a draft rule in December, and stakeholders met Monday in Springfield to share their thoughts. Andrew Rehn with the clean water advocacy group Prairie Rivers…
The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is encouraging owners of solar energy fields to be more pollinator-friendly. Across the planet, bees and other pollinating insect species are disappearing at an alarming rate. That’s due in part to a loss of natural habitat space to humans. Now, as part of the 2018 Pollinator-Friendly Solar Site Act,…
A group gathered on the University of Illinois Urbana campus Friday to call for action to combat climate change. “Climate Strike Two” was a follow-up to the Climate Strike event held on the U of I campus September 20. That event was part of a student-led global protest calling for greater efforts to address climate change, and…
Illinois’ Department of Agriculture published its bi-annual study that looked at how to improve water quality by cutting down on pollutants that runoff into streams and rivers. Officials are mainly concerned with stopping excess nitrogen and phosphorus runoff. If too much of the stuff flows into a waterway, the chemicals can suck the oxygen out…
Over the last two years, Rob Van Vleet has been slowly scrapping the last vestiges of Kimball, Nebraska’s first wind farm. The wind turbines are made to…
Federal agencies are scrambling to establish regulations for hemp and hemp products as farmers in the Midwest and around the country start growing the…
It’s humid spring morning in the woods of central Missouri and Henry Domke is lining up a shot. His target? The vibrant petals of a red buckeye bloom. …
A Brazilian-owned meat processing company undercut its competition by more than $1 per pound to win nearly $78 million in pork contracts through a federal program launched to help American farmers offset the impact from an ongoing trade war. As a result, JBS USA has won more than 26 percent of the $300 million the…
Many organic farmers rely on plastic as a form of mulch, but it ends up in landfills. Biodegradable plastic could help, but some worry about its long-term effects on soil health and the environment.
Updated at 11 a.m. June 7 to correct details about Mark Junker — Rural communities are some of the most politically disenfranchised when it comes to…
“I water my horses out of this creek down here,” Jeff Ivers says, resting his hand on his horse’s nose. He looks out over his land: 43 acres, surrounded…
Rising temperatures and carbon dioxide levels could have opposing effects on nutrients in soybeans, according to a new study.
For crop farmers, winter is the offseason. But that doesn’t mean they take the winter off. It’s meeting season — going to endless seminars or having…
As harvest wrapped up this year and the leaves turned brilliant shades of red and yellow, two of the world’s biggest agribusinesses, Archer Daniels…
A stand of trees in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri looks a little more sparse than what is often depicted in a forest. The trees are eight…