Read more about the article Irrigation’s impact on agriculture during the drought of 2012Darrell Hoemann/CU-CitizenAccess.org
Irrigation equipment at Mark Pflugmacher’s farm just outside of Gifford, Ill., on November 29.

Irrigation’s impact on agriculture during the drought of 2012

The drought of 2012 was the worst since at least 1988, spanning the entire Corn Belt, from Ohio to Wyoming, and costing the agribusiness industry billions of dollars.

Continue ReadingIrrigation’s impact on agriculture during the drought of 2012
Read more about the article Volatile market leads to lower crop insurance premiums for farmersPhoto by Darrell Hoemann/CU-CitizenAccess.org
A central Illinois farmer drives a tractor through his field during the early parts of spring planting 2016.

Volatile market leads to lower crop insurance premiums for farmers

Thanks to a drop in market volatility and grain prices, farmers may pay up to 10 percent less this year for crop insurance.

Continue ReadingVolatile market leads to lower crop insurance premiums for farmers
Read more about the article Former U.S. rep recruits farmers for corn lawsuitDarrell Hoemann
Lawyer William Enyart talks with farmers at the Hilton Garden Inn on Tuesday, September 1, 2015.

Former U.S. rep recruits farmers for corn lawsuit

Nearly a year after China re-opened its doors to imported U.S. corn, one former U.S. representative is recruiting Illinois farmers into a mass-action lawsuit as plaintiffs. Thousands of farmers – along with major agribusinesses Archer Daniels Midland and Cargill – are suing the Swiss chemical company Syngenta for selling a genetically modified strain of corn in the United States before its approval by China.

Continue ReadingFormer U.S. rep recruits farmers for corn lawsuit
Read more about the article Road to Rantoul: Migrant workers journey to central IllinoisPhoto by Darrell Hoemann
The Nightingale Camp in Rantoul, Ill., is licensed by the state to house more than 400 migrant workers. The workers come north from places such as Mexico and Texas to detassel corn.

Road to Rantoul: Migrant workers journey to central Illinois

Each summer, hundreds of seasonal workers leave their homes in Texas and Mexico and travel more than 1,000 miles north to work in the corn fields of central Illinois. Many of those hundreds make their way to Rantoul, a village of about 13,000 people in Champaign County and the summer home of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign football team's training sessions. As the sessions get underway in mid-August, the hundreds of migrant workers wrap up the first wave of agriculture work in nearby corn fields.

Continue ReadingRoad to Rantoul: Migrant workers journey to central Illinois