Farming

A dust storm, also known as a haboob, forms when strong, straight-line winds meet soil residue sitting among crops, collecting the dust there, rising it from the ground and bringing it together to form a wall-like cloud.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Trump administration wants to rewrite the definition for what counts as protected ‘waters of the United States.' The rule has caused frustration among farmers, but environmental attorneys worry a change could lead to more pollution.

Six years ago, Illinois became the second state in the nation to offer subsidies to farmers for planting cover crops in the fall, an effort to reverse its status as one of the worst states for agriculture runoff. Despite the program’s popularity and calls from environmentalists and farmers for its funding to increase, Gov. JB Pritzker has proposed a 31% funding cut.

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said earlier this month that economic aid payments Congress approved late last year are on the way. But with days left before the deadline, some farmers are anxiously waiting.