USDA is investing $300 million to improve measurement, monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration. Learn about the Soil Carbon Monitoring and Research Network and the federal strategy on climate-smart agriculture.   Read more  

USDA made a rare July adjustment, lowering its corn yield estimates by four bushels per acre. Traders looked for USDA to trim the corn yield estimate by another one to two bushels. Meanwhile, USDA left its national soybean yield estimate unchanged from last month at 52 bushels per acre. Joe Camp of CommStock Investments discussed the latest world ag supply and demand estimates report.   Read more

From combines to balers to planters. Illinois farmers pushed wheat harvest to 88% complete with early reports indicating record-setting yields. While some farmers have moved on to planting double-crop beans, others are on their third cutting of alfalfa. FarmWeek’s Daniel Grant has the latest fieldwork update.   Read more

The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) unveiled a plan for spending nearly $41 billion in federal, state and local funds over the next six years to repair and upgrade roads, bridges, airports, rail lines and other infrastructure throughout the state. The latest version of the plan, which IDOT updates annually, is the largest multi-year plan in state history.   Read more

For about the past year, Illinois rural health advocates have created an alliance to brainstorm solutions to growing “OB deserts” and bring attention to the issue. “It won’t be fixed in one year,” said Pat Schou, executive director of the Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network. “But we can see changes in three to five years. We have to do our jobs for the future. People have a right to have good OB care.”   Read more

There are 36 counties in Illinois with no hospitals or birth centers offering obstetric care and no obstetric providers, according to a March of Dimes report. As “OB deserts” increase throughout the country, farming families, doctors and rural health care advocates are concerned about the state of maternal health care and the loss of young families in rural communities.   Read more