Food & Farming

The Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health have provided resources to farmers for decades. But heads of the regional research programs say their federal funding for on-farm studies and training will abruptly end this fall.

Compeer Financial of Bloomington is making the donation for the Children's Discovery Museum exhibit space called “From the Farm to a Healthy Me."

Students at the Regional Alternative School in Bloomington are getting their hands dirty as they learn the importance of gardening and agriculture by growing their very own food.

Farmers continued to take on more debt through the first quarter of 2025, prolonging a trend from last year. That’s as farm incomes have shrunk over the last couple of years, and some worry President Trump’s tariffs could make economic conditions tougher.

Central Illinois lawmakers had predictably partisan reactions to the official state budget for the next fiscal year. The budget includes $55.2 billion in spending, a 3.9% increase. Revenue estimates total $55.3 billion, with $1 billion in new taxes on nicotine products, sports betting, and businesses.

During a muddy "field day" last weekend, artist Ruth Burke drove her team of oxen, Clark and Sparky, over the one-acre plot that will be home to a living art installation of native plants.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen calls Trump administration plans to zero out home heating and cooling help for "very low-income" people "cruel."

Scientists in the Midwest and Great Plains were poised to start research to cut U.S. reliance on fertilizer imports, keep biofuel farming cost-competitive and tackle a potent greenhouse gas.

ISU's College of Applied Science and Technology, Department of Agriculture and Office of Sustainability unveiled a new vertical farm this week, which will grow food for campus dining services.

A Democratic congressman from the Chicago area brought his concerns about President Trump’s tariffs to a farm just south of Bloomington on Thursday, accusing the administration of sowing “chaos and uncertainty” with its confrontational approach to trade policy.

Illinois was approved for $43 million in federal reimbursement funds for two food programs designed to strengthen statewide food systems. But when the Trump administration took office it informed the state, without explanation, that the remaining $17.8 million in federal agriculture reimbursements still owed to Illinois would cease after Jan. 19, 2025.

An agriculture executive in Bloomington says tariffs are creating a lot of uncertainty heading into a new planting season.