Organics

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is extending the deadline for the new Organic Dairy Marketing Assistance Program to Aug. 11.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service will assist producers with a new organic management standard under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program Organic Transition Initiative.

Food choices can be confusing — from organic to local to GMOs, how do consumers decide what’s best for them and their families?

Illinois’ farmers and ranchers will soon be able to be represented in the nation’s only comprehensive and impartial agriculture data for every state, county and territory.

State Conservationist Ivan Dozier announced that the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service will offer Regional Conservation Partnership Program funding for the Working Lands, Water and Wildlife Partnership throughout Illinois.

Lifelong Montgomery County farmer, Sugar Creek steward and conservation cropping innovator Kenny Cain received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Hoosier Environmental Council at the 2022 Greening the Statehouse event in Westfield.

After hearing about some of the extreme rain events in Illinois and elsewhere the past few weeks, I am very grateful to have been spared those deluges. Here at home the pastures and row crops are faring well so far. And with the cooler temps the animals and I are thankful.

Agricultural producers and handlers who are certified organic, along with those who are transitioning to organic production, can now apply for U.S. Department of Agriculture programs.

U.S. Department of Agriculture will provide pandemic assistance to cover certification and education expenses to agricultural producers who are certified organic or transitioning to organic.

Iowa State University scientists are leading an effort to improve efficiency and genetics in organic corn production, a fast-growing sector of the agricultural world since the beginning of 2020.

Mercaris has updated its Acreage Analyzer for non-GMO and organic crops. The tool, which was released earlier this year, helps users track organic and non-GMO crops including corn and soybeans, as well as other organic crops such as wheat and oats.

If up is up and down is down, it makes sense then that organic food — especially food that carries the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s treasured “USDA Organic” label — is organic, right?

Nearly everything about Francis and Susan Thicke’s southeastern Iowa organic dairy farm whispers bucolic: a herd of Jersey cows and calves graze on rolling acres of green pastures amid fenced farm fields and acres and acres of tree-thick woods.

Nestled between shopping centers, row crops and car dealerships, an organic nonprofit farm is gearing up for its sixth growing season in an effort to combat hunger locally while teaching the community about food culture and sustainable farming practices.

Ten years of planning, 10 years of want ads and hope and worry ended one day in October when Don Kretschmann realized it wasn’t going to work. No one was going to step in. This was going to be the last harvest at Kretschmann Family Organic Farm.