Community Contributed

Algal blooms pose a significant challenge in both in Illinois and the Gulf of Mexico. One of the leading causes of these algal blooms is excess nutrients — primarily nitrogen and phosphorus.

Roll up your sleeves and get ready to make the most delicious cookies. You will impress your family and friends, as well as Santa, by incorporating this secret ingredient — nonfat dry milk.

Farm to School, a movement that strives to offer healthy local foods and educational opportunities, allows students to learn where their food comes from, why food is good for their bodies and even how to grow their own food.

May is Osteoporosis Awareness Month. Research shows that dairy foods are integral for building and maintaining a lifetime of healthy bones because they contain nutrients like calcium, protein, vitamin D, phosphorus, potassium and magnesium.

I love parsnips. Often parsnips, large white carrot-like root vegetables, are substituted for celery in my soups and stews. The cultivated parsnip that we eat heralds from the appropriately named wild parsnip, Pastinaca sativa. However, wild parsnip is a plant to avoid.

Artificial insemination gives producers access to high-powered genetics for their operation’s goals. Let’s look at the supplies you’ll need and best practices for the most success.

Ideally, labor goes off without a hitch, and you have a healthy calf, foal, kid or lamb on the ground within about an hour of the labor process starting.

Since 2015, St. Louis District Dairy Council has brought hundreds of thousands of kids and calves together in classrooms across Missouri and Illinois. This unique pairing is possible through Adopt-A-Calf, an interactive program designed to teach students about local food, specifically milk.

As with all insects, spotted lanternfly has a life cycle that contains various stages of development. The adults can be found from July through December.

As schools welcome students back, many will open the cafeteria doors for the first time in nearly 18 months.

The fall decorating season is upon us. Youths will make beautiful custom wreaths in a workshop from 10 a.m. to noon Aug. 28 at the University of Illinois Extension Education Center and Community Teaching Kitchen, 944 First St., La Salle.

While it may seem like every insect out there is trying to eat your plants, not all the insects in the garden are pests. Fewer than 1% of all insects are considered pests. The vast majority are beneficial or benign.

Growing up, a summer meal at grandma and grandpa’s house wasn’t complete without a giant, juicy tomato and fried squash blossoms. Squash blossoms are one example of edible flowers that are already growing in our gardens and just waiting for us to enjoy.

Several reports over the last years and a recent presentation at a Carthage Veterinary Services Conference have highlighted some significant changes occurring in the design of housing facilities for pigs in China.

Here in central Illinois, this spring has delivered its share of surprises. The planting season got off to a good start in April with warm and dry weather with a lot of corn and soybean being planted.