Ag Fun Website Lives Up to Its Name
The Illinois Ag Fun website can help locate your nearest farmers’ markets, orchards, wineries and pumpkin patches.
Western Illinois Farmer Creates ‘Maternity Ward’ for Cows
Kane Custom Calving in Western Illinois allows 350 to 550 cows to give birth on his farm each calving season.
Unbridled Hospitality at Illinois Horse Hotels
Equine enthusiasts gallop to horse hotels across Illinois.
Food For the Soul: Family Garden Feeds More Than Appetite
A family learns life lessons that feed the soul through gardening.
Handpicked Patches at Mill Creek Farm in Quincy
Take a trip to Mill Creek Farm in Quincy for fresh-picked spring strawberries and asparagus.
Wanted: Field Moms for Illinois Farm Families
Sign up for Illinois Farm Families’ Field Moms program to learn more about Illinois agriculture and where your food comes from.
Pigs Receive Extra TLC at Gould Family Farm
Gould Family Farms, who participate in the Illinois Farm Families program, make sure to give their pigs extra love and care.
Midwest Food Bank Volunteers Feed the Hungry Year-Round
Faith-based food bank, Midwest Food Bank, works to provide more than 400,000 hungry people with food throughout the year.
Raising Poultry Produces Golden Moments
A family reflects on how raising chickens helped them grow and learn some of life’s lessons.
Get Your Cameras Ready for the Picture Illinois Photo Contest
Capture the beauty and diversity of Illinois’ agricultural landscape in this year’s Picture Illinois photo contest from the Illinois Farm Bureau.
The Difference Between Grain Bins and Silos
Is that a grain bin, or is that a silo? What’s the difference between the two structures?
Larson Family Farms Full Circle
At a family farm near Maple Park, the production pattern comes full circle. The crops feed the cattle, and the cattle feed the crops.
Grain Storage Gains Momentum
Grain bins – those silver, corrugated steel cylinders with domed tops – seem to be sprouting from Illinois farmland.
Marketing Games Crowd Grocery Aisles
Unsubstantiated concern is like a weed that robs my plants of necessary space, sunlight and nutrients. They also crowd the grocery aisle by way of marketing and can prevent good farmers from selling good products.
Father-Son Relationships Strengthen Farms
This Father’s Day, we’re reflecting on how wisdom and youth mix in father-son farm partnerships.
A Dairy Farmer Answers: Hormones, Antibiotics and Cow-Tipping
Dairy farmer Linda Drendel answers questions from Chicago-area moms about antibiotics and hormones in milk and how she cares for calves.
Suburban Moms Meet Farmers Through Illinois Farm Families Program
Through the field moms program, Chicago-area moms can take tours of farms and ask farmers questions about where their food comes from and food safety issues.
Chicago Neighborhood Gardens Grow Veggies, Community Spirit
More than 600 community gardens across Chicago have sprouted green space in urban areas to grow fresh produce in the city.
Hats Off to Farmers
Grandpa’s hat collection says a lot of about farm history, agribusinesses and their tradition of free hats, and about livestock.
Suburban Moms Tour Illinois Farms with Illinois Farm Families
Illinois Farm Families takes suburban moms onto Illinois farms to help them learn about the realities of farming.
Christmas Trees: Find a Farm in Illinois
‘Tis the season to traipse across Illinois farms with your families in search of the perfect Christmas tree.
Talking Turkey at Kauffman Farms
Family farm in Northern Illinois raises safe, savory HoKa turkeys for consumers’ holiday dinners.
Candlelit Christmas
As much as we plan ahead for life’s most cherished holiday traditions, we often most remember the unplanned in our lives.
Sledders, Cattle Gather Where the Illinois Prairie Slopes
Illinois’ biggest hills are often in cattle pastures, designated for grazing livestock – and they’re great for sledding.
Rural Halloween: A Real Treat in Illinois
Halloween in rural Illinois yields bountiful goodies and relationships.
A-maizing: Corn Mazes in Illinois
Satellites, artists team up to create this unique farm attraction.
Wiener Roasts Evolve but Remain Fall Favorite
My family likes to dine out – in the outside sense of the word.
Chicago High School Focuses on Agriculture Education
One Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences student said she originally stereotyped the school as a place that taught kids how to farm. She left understanding the myriad opportunities in the agriculture industry.
Udder Delight: Robots Rejuvenate Dairy Farm’s Milking Process
At one Southern Illinois dairy farm, cows are milked at their leisure, instead of the typical twice-a-day schedule.
Lightning Bugs Spark Summer Nostalgia
Chasing fireflies is one of Illinois’ most wholesome and inexpensive forms of entertainment to share with any age.
Dinner Dilemma: Does “Dinnertime” Mean Supper or Lunch?
Is dinner served at noon or night? I say “not at all” at our house, where lunch and supper supersede to avoid the confusion of when dinner shall be served.
The Life Cycle of a Corn Plant
Follow the Illinois corn crop through the year from planting in spring to harvesting in fall and its uses beyond.
Q&A With an Illinois Corn Farmer
Since Len Corzine began farming in 1974, the farm has reduced soil erosion, cut fertilizer use per bushel by half, and adopted satellite-guidance technology in its tractors to reduce fuel and chemical use.
Funk Farm Brings Maple Syrup From Tree to Tabletop
As operators of Funks Grove Pure Maple Sirup Farm in Shirley, Illinois, Mike and Debby Funk bring syrup from the tree to your table.
Video: Sager Farms in Kell, Illinois
Sager Farms in Kell, Illinois has raised peaches and apples for more than 30 years.
See the Buffalo Roam at Illinois Bison Farm
Terry Lieb’s 3,400-acre corn and soybean farm in Piatt County is as modern as any in the state, with genetically modified crops, GPS mapping and other high-tech innovations.
4 Women of the Illinois Ag World
Farm women are among the busiest – on and off the farm – as they have found a niche that ties in with Illinois agriculture.
Illinois Flood Control Plans Are Flowing
It’s a system that sustains fish and wildlife, communities and commerce. It’s an integrated system where navigation, environmental stewardship, recreation and flood control all play a crucial role in its continued health and welfare.
What a Shortage of Rural Veterinarians Means for Farms
A national shortage of rural veterinarians may lead to a health-care crisis for our animals.
Lipizzans Have an Air About Them
High-jumping Lipizzan stallions date back to royal beginnings. Tempel Farms in Wadsworth, a northwest suburb of Chicago, is the only place in the United States where the rare, white Lipizzan stallions are bred and trained, then perform.
Life’s a Peach at Eckert’s Country Store
The sixth and seventh generations run Eckert’s Country Store and Farms in Belleville, the largest you-pick apple and peach orchard in the nation.
Illinois Farms Are Tuned in to Technology
Today’s Illinois farmers are armed with crop-yield monitors and biotech hybrids.
Fairbury’s Patriotic Corncrib
Most farmers use metal grain bins to store their harvested crops. But not Norman Young. This is his patriotic corncrib in Fairbury, Illinois.
Ropp Jersey Cheese Breaks the Mold
McLean County’s Ropp family finds a niche with its artisan cheese business.
