In Episode 9 of the food and farming series Food Trek, Tory Dahlhoff and co-producer Allison Walsh check in with the Central Illinois FarmFED Cooperative in Mount Pulaski, in Logan County.

Today on Food Trek, host Tory Dahlhoff searches out the real definition of farming's biggest buzzword of the last few years: regenerative agriculture. Where did the term come from, and what does it really mean?

Hospital food is not typically known for being local and organic, nor does it usually inspire the tastebuds. But a pilot project at OSF St. Francis Medical Center aims to change that, one breakfast meal at a time. Food Trek host Tory Dahlhoff has the story.

Today on Food Trek: We're heading over to Ashkum, Illinois, to hear from Harold Wilken and Jill Brockman-Cummings about the origins of Janie's Farm and Mill, an organic flour powerhouse that has worked against the grain of the conventional farm and food system to bring a locally produced staple baking ingredient to restaurants, groceries and home pantries throughout Illinois.

Today on Food Trek: Host Tory Dahlhoff pulls the old food truck out of the garage, air up the tires, swap out the fryer grease, fire up the grill, and hits the road with Chef Ryan Smith to cook and chat with the owners of Sous Chef, a small grocery in downtown Peoria where they have written their own recipe for connecting local farmers to the community.

Getting more people on farms is no easy feat with conventional agriculture continuing to position less and less farmers on larger swaths of land.

Today on Food Trek, host Tory Dahlhoff gives us the first of a two-part episode that dives into the potential of building a local food system in Central Illinois and reviews a bit of the history of why, in a place with such great soil, a strong local food system has yet to take hold.

Today on Food Trek, host Tory Dahlhoff explores how a diverse tallgrass prairie was transformed into a landscape now dominated by monoculture crops. How did a biodiverse prairie that excelled at storing carbon turn into farmland that contributes to climate change?

Food Trek host Tory Dahlhoff is your guide. In the debut episode, Tory explains what to expect and who you'll meet on this yearlong reporting project.