Celebrating Illinois Ag Leaders
Farm kids grow up surrounded by creativity—whether it’s building forts from hay bales, sketching tractors, or turning feed sacks into costumes.
When northern Illinois farmer Dan Sanderson started farming in the 1980s, cover crops weren’t exactly mainstream. Government set-aside programs required planting something like oats, but what stuck with Dan wasn’t the paperwork. It was the difference he noticed in those acres the next year—healthier plants and stronger soils. Decades later, that observation led him down a lifelong road of conservation and soil health improvement. In this episode of IL Corn TV, Dan joins IL Corn board member Shane Gray to talk about his path toward regenerative farming, what he learned at a 2017 Soil Health Academy that changed everything, and why he now treats soil as a living system, not something to manipulate. Dan’s story is one every farmer can relate to—trial and error, lessons learned the hard way, and realizing that “good soil” is about more than yield. 🎥 Watch Part 1 now and catch Part 2 soon, where Dan dives deeper into how he’s reducing inputs, improving soil function, and still keeping his yields strong.
IL Corn's Scholarship Period Now Open
House Hearing and New Executive Order Spotlight Economic Pressures on Farmers and Call for Stronger Market Opportunities
Corn exports continue to increase at record high volumes, but the value is at a stark low. Burdensome global supplies of corn have weighed on markets.
