ST. LOUIS — Mark Scott has been farming corn and soybeans on his family’s land outside of St. Louis for more than 30 years, and he has never seen fertilizer prices as high as they are now. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s60/audio/2022/03/fertz-web.mp3 “It’s doubled in price since last year,” Scott said. “I locked up all my nitrogen this morning
As Ukraine continues to fight against Russian forces, experts warned of potential fallout for the U.S. agriculture industry. On Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine, and Russian troops stormed into the country. Reportedly, tens of thousands have died, and about half a million people have fled their homes, according to
URBANA — For more than 5-years, Dr. Robert Jones has served as Chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is a native of Georgia, a parent, and a grandparent. He has earned multiple advanced degrees in crop physiology. And he was a member of a Grammy award-winning vocal ensemble. On Jan. 31, Illinois Newsroom’s
URBANA – If you felt like December’s weather was mild – you’re right. According to provisional data, December 2021 was the fifth warmest December on record. The average statewide temperature was 39.4 degrees Fahrenheit – more than nine degrees above average. It was the warmest December on record in Carbondale, the third warmest in St.
Large donors can put universities in potentially awkward positions when faculty conclusions conflict with the interests of those benefactors. Data collected by Harvest Public Media and Investigate Midwest show corporations have given at least $170 million to ag colleges in the past decade. Read Part II and Part III of this series. CHAMPAIGN — A major donor to the
GIBSON CITY – In August, nine inches of rain dumped on one of Randy Aberle’s fields of corn and soybeans near Gibson City, Illinois. “We had some areas in those fields that the water was four feet deep,” he says. Luckily, he says, those fields have enough slope that the water drained off within a
The average age of farmworkers born outside the U.S. steadily increased from 2008 to 2019, while the average age of U.S.-born workers has stayed about the same over the same period. Foreign-born farmworkers are on average 5 years older than their U.S.-born counterparts. An analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Environmental Research Service attributes the
TOLONO — Lin Warfel puts farmland owners in central Illinois into two categories: Those with a deep connection and desire to preserve their land, and those obsessed with short-term money. The 80-year-old still owns the land that’s been in his family since his great-grandfather arrived in Champaign County in the 1800’s. After farming it
URBANA — 80 years from now, Illinois’ climate may be unrecognizable. Summers could get a lot hotter, with temperatures reaching up to 114 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas. The state could see up to 150% more rainfall per year than it does currently, with more storms dumping more rain more frequently. Snow days would mostly
BROADLANDS — When it rains on Joe Rothermel’s central Illinois farm, most of the water drains into the nearby East Branch Embarras River. There, it begins a journey south through the Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. As it flows through more and more farmland, fertilizer runoff — which once nourished crops — compounds the water’s
CHAMPAIGN – Maricel Mendoza is familiar with the work migrant and seasonal farmworkers do. Growing up, her family traveled from Texas to central Illinois every year for her parents’ jobs as contractors with a large seed company. “All of my parents’ siblings were migrants, my grandparents were migrants,” Mendoza says. “So it’s just something that
CHAMPAIGN — Meg Moynihan knows what it’s like to struggle. In 2016 she and her husband, who own an organic dairy farm in Minnesota, found themselves without a processor, which turns farm milk into a consumer product. Their farm was too far a drive for too little milk, they were told. They didn’t find another
CHAMPAIGN – Nitrate levels in Illinois drinking water continue to be an environmental health issue and in some areas are increasing, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The analysis gathered data on 10 largely agricultural states—including Illinois, Kansas and California—and found that many small, rural water systems have potentially unsafe
Fire Chief Apologizes For Sharing Post On Shooting Looters LINCOLN — The fire chief of the central Illinois city of Lincoln is apologizing for sharing a social media post asserting supporters of President Donald Trump would blow the heads off looters. Chief Bob Dunovsky said Thursday the decision to share the Facebook post was made
New Tool Will Help Farmers Calculate Crop Insurance URBANA – Farmers must make decisions about crop insurance over the next few weeks, and a new tool from the University of Illinois can help. The crop insurance calculator allows farmers to enter their state, county, crop, and other farm information, and it spits out different premiums. It was