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Wis. (WLAX.WEUX) – Ships loaded with grain are still departing Ukrainian ports right now. That is despite Russia suspending its participation in a U-N-brokered deal. The U-N said on Tuesday that three ships carrying corn, wheat, and sunflower meal left through a humanitarian sea corridor set up in July. A total of 14-ships also sailed […]

The American West is experiencing its driest period in human history, a megadrought that threatens health, agriculture and entire ways of life. DRIED UP is examining the dire effects of the drought on the states most affected — as well as the solutions Americans are embracing. AUSTIN, Texas — The megadrought in the Western U.S., […]

By the end of the century, production of grain, meat and dairy across the Southern Plains, and especially in Texas, could collapse as rainfall patterns change and temperatures rise, putting ever more pressure on declining reserves of water from below.

CENTRAL ILLINOIS (WCIA) — Howard Buffett soon will make his second trip to Ukraine this spring and last Wednesday expressed his concern that USDA could be doing more to produce wheat on CRP-Set-aside acreage. “And I think we made a huge mistake in this country, by not immediately responding,” Buffett said. “You knew within two […]

TAYLORVILLE, Ill. (WCIA) — Strawberry season at the Big M Berry patch southwest of Taylorville means hundreds of people filling quart containers of strawberries, thanks to the hospitality of Mel Repscher and his family. “We started back in 1985 with just about 2 acres of strawberries,” Repscher said. “And we’ve increased it a little bit […]

URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — Beer enthusiasts at Riggs Brewery Saturday were oblivious to a bumper crop of small grains enthusiasts more focused on the wheat and barley test plots on the east side of Urbana. Owner Matt Riggs hosted Small grains researcher Jessica Rutkoski and her followers, but there is a great family story brewed […]

CENTRAL ILLINOIS (WCIA) — United Prairie’s corn plot was planted earlier this month, and chief agronomist Kyle Meece put in soybean test plots over the past several days. “This planter’s going to be the one, we’re doing 30-inch row beans, but we’re looking at some different in-furrow studies on beans,” Meece said. “We’re looking at […]

CENTRAL ILLINOIS (WCIA) — Is your corn up yet? If not, why is it not? You’re behind schedule, and somebody who knows about that is mama cutworm moth because she has laid all of her eggs all through your field so her babies would have something to eat. And they are going to be hungry, […]