Infrastructure

Illinois Stewardship Alliance representatives took the oft-used phrase “where the rubber meets the road” literally as they traveled across Illinois to host listening sessions as part of the group’s golden anniversary celebration.

Wheat is strategically planted on the Rahn farm to provide opportunities for manure applications and tiling projects.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has technical and financial assistance available to help farmers and livestock producers recover from recent tornadoes, high winds and flooding in Illinois.

Bridges throughout Illinois are on the top of the priority list for a statewide infrastructure funding program.

Each year, the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri and its collaborators put together a baseline projection for the U.S. and world ag sectors for the major grains, oilseeds, biofuels, livestock and dairy commodities.

Early spells of warm weather mean that truckers who use rural roads in Illinois had an added challenge.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack will soon meet with farm officials from key trading partners Canada and Mexico.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering over $6.7 million in competitive grant funding for projects designed to build food supply chain resilience in Indiana.

The Biden administration is awarding $623 million in grants to states, local governments and tribes to help build an electric vehicle charging network across the nation.

About 36.4 million tons of food and food products, including corn and soybeans, are shipped annually via Illinois waterways and are dependent upon locks and dams that were built in the 1930s.

Finally there’s no more talk of drought. The recent rains have kept the pastures looking good. Harvest in this area is probably on par with other years — many finished with beans, but not so much here.

For thousands of years, waterways have been essential as a food source and transportation means and are now a major avenue for economically and efficiently moving grain and other freight.

Victor Tsvyk harvested 4,800 tons of wheat this month, but after Russia exited a wartime deal that allowed Ukraine to ship grain to the world, he has no idea where his produce will go, or how his beloved farm will survive.

Indiana Farm Bureau Vice President Kendell Culp visited Washington, D.C., to testify at a U.S. House Committee on Small Business. He discussed the challenges of operating a small business in rural Indiana.

Matt Rush was waiting for rain, watching his corn crop grow. “It looks good. Obviously, we’re dry. But it’s held on remarkably well for the lack of rain we’ve had,” he said.

Indiana Farm Bureau hosted nine policy advisory groups in which farmers worked through county policy suggestions.

A new constructed wetland and restored wetland site in Livingston County was among the stops as part of the Mississippi River Network’s River Days of Action.

Legislation creating the Illinois Waterway Ports Commission Act was unanimously passed by both chambers of the General Assembly and awaits the governor’s signature.

The Illinois Soybean Association recognizes that rural roads and bridges serve as the initial link in the agricultural supply chain.

The farm sector shouldn’t see quite as many transportation-related challenges this year compared to 2022, according to industry experts at the Grain and Feed Association of Illinois’ 130th annual convention in Peoria.

The Illinois Soybean Association applauded the U.S. Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center and the Navigation and Civil Works Decision Support Center for recently approving the Northern Grain Belt Ports on the Upper Mississippi River between Wisconsin and Minnesota.

As I pen this column, critical infrastructure across our country remains on alert after an attack on two substations in North Carolina. Those attacks cut power to tens of thousands for several days.

The philanthropic arm of Ford Motor Co. said it is giving $1 million to help west Tennessee communities improve infrastructure as they prepare for the automaker’s electric truck and battery factory.

Two Illinois cooperatives will receive federal funding through the infrastructure bill to expand high-speed internet in those areas. The Hamilton County Telephone Co-op received a loan of over $12.41 million and a grant for the same amount.

The newly-designated Corn Belt Ports have reaped the benefits of the federal recognition with increased investments from state and federal governments and nonprofit organizations.

It’s been a historic year for the Illinois Corn Growers Association as it celebrated its 50th anniversary this past summer, and the organization continues advocating on behalf of farmers.

The Kron family is preparing for harvest in southern Indiana. Randy Kron, farmer and president of Indiana Farm Bureau, shared an update with AgriNews.

Bill Gates says the global hunger crisis is so immense that food aid cannot fully address the problem. What’s also needed, Gates argues, are the kinds of innovations in farming technology that he has long funded to try to reverse the crisis documented in a new report.

The senatorial candidates participated in a question-and-answer session after their opening statements at the recent Illinois Agricultural Legislative Roundtable forum. The questions were provided by those in the audience.

Questions relating to several high-priority legislative issues were posed to U.S. senatorial candidates at a recent candidate forum. The Illinois Agricultural Legislative Roundtable forum featured incumbent Democrat U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Republican challenger Kathy Salvi.

The interconnectivity of different transportation modes and need for reliability in both transportation and broadband infrastructure emerged as key ingredients for continued competitiveness of the U.S. agriculture industry during a virtual webinar hosted by the St. Louis AgriBusiness Club.

U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood followed the “life of a soybean” on the Kindred family farm this past growing season, making his third and final visit with harvest underway.