Illinois Organic Growers Association is Hiring!

Illinois Organic Growers Association (IOGA) has an opening for a par-time, 20 hours per month association coordinator position.The IOGA Coordinator is the lead staff person of the Illinois Organic Growers Association and will report to the IOGA Governing Board, Administrative Committee and the association’s fiscal sponsor Illinois Stewardship Alliance.  The Coordinator oversees the activities of the organization, […]

Local agriculture experiences welcome growth at Hendrick House

Alisa DeMarco’s first year at Hendrick House has been marked with huge strides towards more sustainable food options and integration more local foods on campus. Hendrick House has been a privately owned residence hall on the University of Illinois’ Urbana-Champaign campus since 1948, with a strong family tradition behind the management team. The efforts to […]

‘Food Hubs’ Help Support Local Food

A recent blog post from Roots of Change highlights a food system that has seen its popularity rise along with the demand for sustainable and organic agriculture; the ‘food hub’. The system was born in response the current traditional agribusiness, which puts small and medium farmers at a terrible disadvantage. Under a ‘food hub’, these small […]

Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Options in Chambana

I’m sure plenty of you know about this already, especially if you find yourself perusing this site in the first place, but it’s my dutiful job to remind you that we have lots of options for buying fresh, locally raised fruits and vegetables here in Champaign-Illinois. Tomorrow (tomorrow being Saturday if you’re suffering from the […]

Cultivating FoodJustice Race, Class, and Sustainability

Popularized by such best-selling authors as Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver, and Eric Schlosser, a growing food movement urges us to support sustainable agriculture by eating fresh food produced on local family farms. But many low-income neighborhoods and communities of color have been systematically deprived of access to healthy and sustainable food. These communities have been […]

Tools to help boost local food economy

Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) Director Warren Ribley addressed the annual Illinois Specialty Growers Association conference last week in Springfield and highlighted ways the state is working to increase markets for local foods. “More people today want to know where their food comes from. Making food grown and produced in Illinois more […]

U of I business students provide roadmap for a local food hub

Last semester the Edible Economy Project engaged Illinois Business Consulting (IBC) to identify and recommend solutions that will help them establish a local food hub in central Illinois.  Edible Economy is a non-profit organization working to engage partners in 32 Central Illinois counties to create a modern, efficient, community-based regional food system where producers and consumers work together to […]

Comprehensive Guide to Direct Farm Business Laws in Illinois

The result of a multi-year project by University of Illinois professor of agricultural law Bryan Endres and co-authors,  the Comprehensive Guide to Direct Farm Business Laws in Illinois is an extensive guide designed  “to help farmers understand the many issues that must be considered when establishing and operating a direct farm business. There is more […]