FarmWeekNow

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11/06/2025

Today we welcomed county Farm Bureaus to check out the new Illinois State Historical Society marker honoring COUNTRY Financial, the first centennial business ever recognized through the Society’s program!

The marker includes a sundial surrounded by each county that make up the Illinois Farm Bureau and celebrates 100 years since Illinois Farm Bureau founded the Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Co., which grew into COUNTRY Financial as we know it today.

11/05/2025

On paper, the close-to-100,000 registered attorneys in Illinois suggest a state well-covered by legal professionals.

But many of those attorneys are concentrated in more metropolitan areas of the state, leaving rural communities with too few attorneys to meet the high demand for legal services.

In the latest episode of Taking Stalk, Mattoon attorney and Illinois State Bar Association President Angel Wawrzynek and Garrett Thalgott, Illinois Farm Bureau's assistant general counsel, discuss legal deserts in rural Illinois — and why what's missing should matter to everyone.

Listen to the full episode here: https://www.farmweeknow.com/podcasts/

11/03/2025

⭐ Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom has named both its 2026 Teacher and Administrator of the Year ⭐

Erikka Coletta, an interventionist and school librarian with Harlem District #122, is IAITC's Teacher of the Year.

While interventionist and school librarian are in her official job description, Coletta tells FarmWeek she considers herself "an ag cheerleader" and is grateful for continued support from Winnebago-Boone Farm Bureau Ag Literacy.

St. Mary's School Principal Karen Jones is IATC's Administrator of the Year.

Jones is known for providing students updates on "what's happening on the family farm" and says ag "thrives" at the school thanks to strong relationships with Illinois Farm Bureau, Livingston County Farm Bureau and Livingston County Soil and Water Conservation District.

10/29/2025

Change can be hard, Logan County Farm Bureau President Derek Martin says, but all the changes the Martin family made over the years to make their farm more sustainable have paid off. That included earlier this month when Pepsi honored the family with an award in New York City, recognizing their decades-long, multigenerational commitment to sustainable and no-till farming.

10/27/2025

As the Joehl family behind Greene Fields Farm wraps up their 10th year of agritourism, they're still in awe of how a single acre of pumpkins to share with neighbors turned into a 30 acre pumpkin patch that counts visitors by the thousands in Greene County.

"It's pretty wild," Regan Joehl tells Rita Frazer of the RFD Radio Network. "It's just such a blessing to us to get pour our heart and souls into this all year and then see not only our family, but also all of these other families, enjoy it."

An added bonus for the family: What Regan calls their "adventure in agritourism" has allowed Christie Joehl to start St. Isidore FFA, a homeschool FFA chapter that serves eight surrounding counties.

Listen to the full interview: https://www.farmweeknow.com/audio-an-adventure-in-agritourism-in-greene-county/audio_301fd66a-91c1-458c-ac60-91ce9b57848a.html

10/25/2025

His name is Collins. Chuck Collins.

And for nearly 50 years, Chuck Collins' main gig has been in broadcasting — most recently as the chief meteorologist at 25News WEEK — but that's set to change now that he's retired.

A member of the The Ian Fleming Foundation , Collins tells DeLoss Jahnke of the RFD Radio Network he's looking forward to spending more time working on cars and vehicles that appeared in James Bond movies.

"I'll be working more and more with the Foundation and spending more time traveling around the country and maybe the world delivering Bond vehicles to various places," Collins says in this week's episode of Vintage Country.

Listen to the full episode at the link in comments.

10/23/2025

COUNTRY Financial set another milestone yesterday as celebrations of its 100-year anniversary continue. COUNTRY is now the *first* business to receive a marker from the Illinois State Historical Society.

A cast aluminum marker at Illinois Farm Bureau headquarters in Bloomington — sponsored in part by the McLean County Museum of History — will feature text tracing COUNTRY's origins back to 1925, when IFB founded the Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Co. to help protect farm families from fire and storm damage.

“We have been looking forward to this year and this moment for quite some time, and 100 years truly is an amazing accomplishment for our organization,” COUNTRY CEO Jim Jacobs said. “We are one of several very successful organizations that were started by Illinois Farm Bureau, and it's an amazing testament to the entrepreneurial spirit of our organization.”

Other members of the IAA family of companies, including IAA Foundation, IAA Credit Union, Prairie Farms Dairy and GROWMARK, Inc., will be featured on rocks at the IAA Plaza next to the historical marker.

COUNTRY joins a long list of more than 400 sites of national or statewide significance recognized by the Illinois State Historical Society's marker program since 1934.

10/21/2025

In this episode of Weeds with Karla, Dr. Karla Gage from SIU dives into seedbanks—what they are, why they matter, and how to manage them before they become next year’s w**ds. Each month, she delivers practical strategies on w**d management to help protect your fields.

10/20/2025

🚨 DROPPING TUESDAY: A new Taking Stalk podcast episode with University of Illinois College of ACES's Andrew Margenot and Illinois Farm Bureau's Evan Hultine. Find it on 10/21 at: https://www.farmweeknow.com/podcasts/

10/18/2025

Randolph County farmer Jack McCormick loves his antique IH tractors, but they're not just on his farm to look nice.

"We do have some tractors that are certainly functional on our farm. We have beef cows, so we're raking hay and doing that kind of stuff you need small tractors for," McCormick tells Rita Frazer of the RFD Radio Network. "We make sure our antiques actually get a workout — they've got to earn a living on our farm.

McCormick discusses his 1970 IH 826 and a 1979 IH 686 on this week's episode of Vintage Country.

Listen to the full episode at the link in comments.

10/17/2025

Alan Dale didn’t have many toys growing up on his family’s farm. But he’s making up for it today.

The retired Bureau County farmer and former Illinois Farm Bureau president has amassed a collection of more than 1,300 vintage toys, including tractors, farm equipment, trucks, pedal tractors and more.

And that's not counting the historical farm items in Dale's collection, which range from seed sacks to cast iron tractor seats to 1800s-era farm tools. While creating a museum didn’t fully start taking shape in Dale’s mind until about 1996, the seed was planted decades ago when he tore down the corn crib on his property in 1987.

“I saved the ladder from the corn crib and I figured I’d use that some day. So I had these visions, dreams, many years ago,” Dale told FarmWeek.

See more pictures and read the full story at the link in comments.

10/15/2025

It's pumpkin patch visiting season — and if you happen to visit Market Six - Pumpkin Patch in Morgan County, you'll be helping Ben and Genny Six pass along their passion to the next generation.

Among other things, their agritourism farm, started in 2019, is aimed at providing more opportunities for their four children to learn to be good stewards of land.

"Ben and I just wanted to raise our kids ... working with us and learning from us," Genny Six tells Rita Frazer of the RFD Radio Network.

Both Ben and Genny's families have been farming in Illinois since the mid-1800s.

Listen to the full interview here: https://www.farmweeknow.com/genny-six-of-market-six-farm/audio_e5db40cf-385c-4c4e-ac3c-fef45e1b837d.html

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