Cultivating Connections 2024

A class project changed how Clint Bland looks at food.As part of an ecology course, Clint tried to find a more sustainable way of living by eating only locally grown food for a month.He couldn’t. With summer over, he couldn’t rely on local foods from farmers markets or home gardens. As he read the...

Sawyer and Abbie Cottrell are like many young ranchers. They want to give their sons and daughter a childhood that’s meaningful and that will live beyond themselves.The Cottrell homestead sits at the end of a long gravel driveway just miles down the road from Eureka High School where Sawyer teaches...

Happiness matters. Mei Shao’s path to farming is unique. Raised in China, her parents encouraged a very traditional educational path. She studied in the U.S. and became a very successful executive architect for one of the most prestigious firms in the country. But happiness matters. ...

Every Monday, Becky Stark and her husband, Nick Batchelder, pick and pack vegetables grown on their Midnight Sun Farm and deliver them to Empower Boone Food Pantry just a few miles down the road in Capron.And, every...

Since March of 2024, 15 organizations have brought farm fresh, local foods to underserved communities across Illinois through the IL-EATS program. Funded by the USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance initiative, IL-EATS has allowed organizations like Eastern Illinois Foodbank to meet the needs of...