Farming

This week on Food Trek, host Tory Dahlhoff explores why the number of Black farmers and the amount of farmland owned by Black farmers has dwindled significantly in not just Illinois, but all across the United States over the last century.

With the spring waterfowl migration complete and warmer, drier weather in place, state veterinarian Dr. Mark Ernst is optimistic that the risk for transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza will be significantly lower, with youth poultry competitions and live sales allowed to resume.

The 40-year inflation high gripping the U.S. has affected the farming and food industries, pushing consumer costs for beef, pork, poultry, eggs and other food staples up by 10% or more.

After the Kroger located on Harmon Highway in Peoria closed its doors in 2018, South Peoria has been a known food desert struggling with food insecurity, especially the 61605, 61604, and 61603 zip codes.

According to Patrick Kirchhofer, manager of the Peoria County Farm Bureau, central Illinois farmers are now back on track to help feed the world.

Milpa plots alternate between a few years of productivity and several years of lying fallow, or uncultivated. That can lead to healthier soil without the use of fertilizers, and larger yields during productive years.

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

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

Andrew Larson is the director of market development for the Illinois Soybean Association.

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.