- IL Corn sponsors competition that will include multiple corn whiskey categories along with Illinois Best; - American Craft Spirits Association to oversee blind judging and determine state winners, category winners and best of show. IL Corn announced that the next Heartland Whiskey Competition will take place July 22-23 in Louisville, Kentucky and craft distillers from Illinois are invited to compete. This is the third successive Heartland Whiskey Competition that state corn marketing associations throughout America’s Heartland have come together to sponsor. The biennial contest is sanctioned by the American Craft Spirits Association and strictly limited to craft whiskeys that contain some amount of corn as an ingredient. Any craft distiller in the U.S. is eligible to enter product for judging in several categories. The most coveted awards are “best of state” which are limited to only those 16 states sponsored by their respective corn associations and “best of show”, also limited to sponsor states.
Every day food banks provide access to healthy and nutritious food to keep families across Illinois from going to bed hungry. As part of the Pork Power: Partnering to Fight Hunger in Illinois campaign, the Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA), along with the Illinois Corn Marketing Board (ICMB) and the Illinois Soybean Association (ISA) Checkoff Program donated a total of 4,100 pounds of ground pork to Eastern Illinois Foodbank to contribute to the effort. In partnership with the University of Illinois athletic department, IPPA committed to donating 50 pounds of ground pork to Eastern Illinois Foodbank when the men’s basketball team, reached 50 points during their game. The 2021 Fighting Illini men’s basketball team fought their way through 31 games during their season and for a total of 1,550 pounds donated on behalf of this partnership.
Consumer outreach messaging continues to amplify Illinois farmers’ voices to the most densely populated area of the state. Illinois Farm Families, a coalition of the five main commodity groups in Illinois and the Illinois Farm Bureau, has great success engaging Chicago consumers on their website, www.watchusgrow.org, and the content created for that platform.
Warmer weather is finally here and many farmers begin to get their planter ready to kick off another growing season. While there may be a visible flurry of activity on the farm, our waterways and streams are silently busy accommodating extra rainfall that typically falls during the season. The additional waterflow is carrying soil nutrients. Dr. Laura Gentry, Director of Water Quality Research, Clay Bess, Precision Conservation Management (PCM) Operation Manager, and Brent Weathers, Farmer in Vermillion County led a panelist discussion about their experience growing cover crops and managing other conservation practices. The panelists answered questions from farmers that ranged from what conservation practices worked best, to what is the benefit of joining the PCM program and gave candid authentic answers.
