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1 week ago | 
geneticliteracyproject.org | Karina Atkins
GLP Policy & Performance Review, 2024 The GLP is committed to full transparency. Download the report.
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1 week ago | 
chicagotribune.com | Karina Atkins
Marty Travis sends an email to small grocers and chefs across Illinois every Friday morning advertising fresh produce, dairy and meats available from small farms in central Illinois. In late May, purple asparagus from 19 x 1950 Family Farm in Benson, romaine from Bland Family Farm in Jacksonville and radishes from Diamond’s Homestead in Decatur were all on the menu. No fruit was ripe yet. Restaurants, corporate kitchens, family-owned markets and food banks place their orders before noon Monday.
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2 weeks ago | 
mercurynews.com | Karina Atkins
A century ago, orchards were the primary source of income for Parker Flamm’s grandfather and many others in Cobden, a 1,000-person town in southern Illinois. Today, Flamm Orchards is one of the last standing. “Right now, it’s pretty much just us,” said Flamm, a sixth-generation orchard owner whose primary customer is a Kroger distribution center in Louisville that buys their peaches and apples.
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2 weeks ago | 
reporterherald.com | Karina Atkins
As labor costs rise, AI is learning to farm In Illinois, a domestic labor shortage and costly migrant workers deter farmers from growing fruits and vegetables.
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2 weeks ago | 
pressenterprise.com | Karina Atkins
Greenland and Iceland saw record heat in May. What does that mean for the world?
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2 weeks ago | 
chicagotribune.com | Karina Atkins
Less than 25% of Illinois farmland is owned by the farmer who works the land, with the rest leased by individuals, family trusts and, increasingly, investors looking to turn a...
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2 weeks ago | 
chicagotribune.com | Karina Atkins
A century ago, orchards were the primary source of income for Parker Flamm’s grandfather and many others in Cobden, a 1,000-person town in southern Illinois. Today, Flamm Orchards is one of the last standing. “Right now, it’s pretty much just us,” said Flamm, a sixth-generation orchard owner whose primary customer is a Kroger distribution center in Louisville that buys their peaches and apples.
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2 weeks ago | 
chicagotribune.com | Karina Atkins
For farmers who grow anything but soybeans and corn in Illinois, buying crop insurance is nearly impossible. Even an insurance agent couldn’t figure out how to safeguard his vegetable and poultry farm against unpredictable weather and plain old bad luck. Ed Dubrick, a first-generation farmer, worked at a local crop insurance agency for two years as he was starting up his small operation.
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3 weeks ago | 
chicagotribune.com | Karina Atkins
Surrounded by rows of soybeans and corn, Hans Bishop’s farm in central Illinois was an anomaly. He grew kale, peppers, eggplants and radishes, selling to Whole Foods from June through October and to local restaurants, grocers and families year-round. The vegetable farm was born in 2009 on a quarter acre rented to him by his father, a row crop farmer.
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3 weeks ago | 
chicagotribune.com | Karina Atkins
Rural Illinois was blessed with nutrient-rich soil that has made it a fertile cradle for crops. Soybeans and corn are its economic heartbeat, covering over 21 million of the state’s 26.3 million farmland acres. This landscape has been supported by decades of fertilizing, tilling and a two-crop strategy that have kept the fields neat and the output high. But in the long term, these practices are a prescription for mounting soil burnout and water pollution.
