Local Foods and Small Farms

As a child, Stacy Jones stood in line at a food pantry with her grandmother.“I know what it’s like to be hungry and to have to ask for food,” she says. Now she’s ensuring the people standing in the Collinsville Food Pantry line are treated with...

The families picking up food at the Two Rivers Head Start Agency food pantry in Aurora Friday morning were diverse in all ways except one; none expected to be where they find themselves today, needing assistance to feed their family. Luke, 44, whose wife...

Delia Jackson is a fan of agriculture. The COVID-19 pandemic showed her just how important and resilient the ag industry is and how vital it is for youth to be involved.Delia, an animal science grad, was a meat and poultry inspector for state and federal plants in Illinois during the pandemic....

Max Allbritten lives in the home his grandparents built in the 60s, less than a thousand feet across the road from his childhood home and where his parents live today. In the six years since his father’s retirement from farming, the barns and equipment have slipped into disrepair. Max was...

Rooted For Good is the glue that binds together the many helping organizations in DeKalb County. When the Local Food Purchase Assistance program was announced, the group’s leadership knew...

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...