Spring is the perfect time for cleaning your chemical storage area and disposing of any old or unwanted pesticides. To assist with this effort, the Illinois EPA will hold one-day household hazardous waste collections. Their schedule for this spring has been released to the public. Please note, all...
The Illinois Pesticide Safety Education Program Grain Facility (SP39-8) and Illinois Pesticide Safety Education Program Livestock (SP39-15) Manuals have been updated for 2026, and are now available on the University of Illinois Extension PubsPlus online store:Grain Facility: ...
This article is not to be construed as legal advice. Consult with your legal advisor before entering tile agreements.Installing the necessary drainage tile on your farm often requires a tile main to direct water through an underground drain tile system and then through a neighbor’s...
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is one of the largest federal government agencies that employs thousands of employees and oversees countless areas of federal agricultural policy. From crop insurance to commodity support programs, to research at universities, and much more, the...
The growing season is upon us finally! With the new green growth will also come pests unfortunately. Do you have what you need to deal with them? Do you still need to obtain your Illinois pesticide applicator or operator license? Only a couple in-person pesticide safety education clinics remain and...
Note: This article is not to be construed as legal advice. Consult with your legal advisor before entering tile agreements. Improving farm drainage tiles in Illinois can be very challenging because most farmland is owned by absentee landowners rather than by the farmer. Owners...
Spring planting is right around the corner here in central Illinois. As the weather warms up, more producers are beginning to prepare their equipment to get into the field at the right time. While getting the seeds in the ground at the right time is important this time of year, equally important is...
While federal agricultural policy can come in many different forms, the Farm Bill is the arguably the most important. Typically passed and enacted every five years, a Farm Bill sets out the funding for various programs administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), including...
Agriculture in the United States is constantly changing, and keeping up with those changes is important for anyone involved in the industry. Each year, the USDA’s Economic Research Service (USDA‑ERS) publishes the Farms and Ranches at a Glance report to help show what is happening across U...
In a presentation I gave during the Springfield Agronomy Summit last week, I mentioned that the landscape of trade policy was constantly changing. I discussed, among other things, the tariffs that had been imposed in 2025 and the court challenges to those tariffs. The Supreme Court must have heard...
