Farm Focus 2021

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Workers transfer marijuana plants from an LED lit growing room to a flowering room at Cresco Labs cultivation center in Lincoln..

DAVID PROEBER, THE PANTAGRAPH

No signs of slowing down Expanding cultivation centers next phase of cannabis evolution in Illinois LYNDSAY JONES

lyndsay.jones@lee.net

In Illinois, the cannabis business is booming — and if projections from industry leaders are correct, that’s a trend that shows no signs of slowing down as 2022 approaches.

Sales from dispensaries across the state totaled nearly $128 million last month, a 10 percent jump from a record-setting $116.4 million in May.

“Through July 2021, the cannabis industry has experienced tremendous growth in Illinois,” Melissa Wagamon, regional president Great Lakes at Chicago-based Cresco Labs, said. “We’ve been really lucky that a lot of new dispensaries have opened.”

But dispensaries aren’t the only signs of growth in the industry.

Both Cresco Labs and Revolution Global, another Chicago-based cannabis company, either expanded or plan to expand cultivation operations as demand increases.

The pandemic put a hold on some of those plans, but they remain on the radar nonetheless.

“I think it’s, it’s gotten a little bit better but supply chain issues have definitely

been a consistent issue for the industry,” Revolution’s vice president for government affairs and communication Victoria Mendicino said. “It has gotten a little bit better, but it adds to the timelines for expansion, definitely.”

Revolution Cannabis is on the verge of completing an expansion that would significantly increase the size of the company’s cultivation-centered workforce.

“Our Delevan facility is undergoing an active construction project right now,” Mendicino said. “We have an existing 75,000 square foot building where operations are housed we are kind of in the end stages of doubling that capacity. So, it’s literally will be a sister building that’s a

mirror of the existing building at our 80acre campus.”

Mendicino said the company expects the project to be finished early next year.

Similarly, some expansion projects are already complete at Cresco Labs’ cultivation center in Lincoln.

“We were able to expand the canopy space and we were able to produce more cannabis that would stock the shelves,” Wagamon said. “Basically, there’s just more supply in the state, not just from us but from other suppliers.”

Most of the focus in the industry right now is on the lottery drawings: Who will Please see CANNABIS, Page 6

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Forces combine to shape ag market International trade growth offsets pandemic side effects TIMOTHY EGGERT

timothy.eggert@lee.net

SIDNEY — The economic outlook from Sarah Hastings’ Central Illinois farm over the last 18 months has been “crazy.”

Operations were the furthest from normal in late 2019 when retaliatory tariffs on agricultural exports in place as part of a years-long trade war between the United States, China and other countries continued to keep commodity prices low.

By early 2020, former President Donald Trump had signed the Phase One trade deal, securing promises from China to purchase billions of dollars in U.S. agricultural goods.

Commodity prices on corn and soybeans began to inch-up and Hastings saw other signals that the economic future of her 1,650-acre corn and soybean farm in Champaign County might be OK through 2020.

Then the coronavirus pandemic hit, causing global supply shortages, increased input costs and momentum for inflation.

Those economic dynamics have largely left Hastings, along with other Illinois farmers, in limbo as they move into a

DAVID PROEBER PHOTOS, THE PANTAGRAPH

Railcars to be loaded with grain and soybean oil wait to be shipped out of a Bloomington rail yard. Shipments to China and other foreign ports continue to be part of the economic picture for Illinois farmers. healthy harvest season while facing a Corn, soybean exports volatile market. improving “When prices were down we all just kind of knuckled down and hoped that by About half of all corn and about twothe end of this battle we’d have a better thirds of all soybeans grown within Ilmarket for our crops and farmers would linois are exported outside of the state. be better off,” Hastings said. “I think In 2018, Prairie State growers exported we’re starting to see that, sort of.” just over $2 billion in corn and $2.5 billion

in soybeans, according to figures from the United States Department of Agriculture. In 2019, with tariffs in place, Illinois farmers exported $1.17 billion in corn and $2.94 billion in soybeans, USDA data show.

Complete figures for Illinois’ 2020 exports will be released in October, and industry experts said they expect to see another set of strong data for statewide corn and soy producers.

Underpinning those expected numbers are growing and new markets that emerged amid the height of the tariffs and after they were lifted.

For China, the leap in demand for corn stems from structural changes in the country’s hog industry. In recent years it has transitioned from a smaller, local production model to a more centralized model after the previous approach was found to have spread disease among herds.

“A critical component of the new system is having a feed system that is geared for those facilities, that can more easily handle biological threats or disease,” said Collin Watters, director of exports and logistics for the Illinois Corn Growers Association. “So they’ll just need a lot more corn.”

Please see POST COVID, Page N6

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Cannabis From 3

be awarded a craft dispensary license next and when will they open? Wagamon said that’s what Cresco Labs, a wholesale-focused business, credits for their growth.

“More sources getting in on it, I think, gives a better experience now,” she said.

“There are more products on the shelf supply and that is, just in general, a better shopping experience so you’re seeing new shoppers come in and so I think some of the growth is coming from that.”

But Cannabis Business Association executive director Pamela Altoff said people shouldn’t expect to see individual cultivation centers and small dispensaries dot the Illinois landscape. While Altoff agreed that the industry will continue its booming trend, that won’t be done on an individual, farm or store level.

“I think, over the years, like every other industry, you’re going to see huge consolidation,” she said. “ You’re gonna see entities like Philip Morris come into cannabis,

Post COVID From 4

China in 2020 imported $1.2 billion in U.S.-grown corn, up from the mere $56 million the country imported in 2019.

“All the talk is about China, but other markets we traditionally rely on — Mexico, Japan, South Korea — they’re all still buying, too,” Watters said. “All those other markets have been very consistent.”

Mexico imported $2.69 billion in corn in 2020, about 1 percent less than in Watters 2019, while Japan imported $1.84 billion, or 8 percent less than in 2019, according to the USDA. Even still, Watters said current projections suggest those markets and the Chinese market will make 2021 “by far the biggest corn exporting marketing year.”

That’s also the case for the soybean exports, which in 2020 experienced growth in the Chinese market and in a blossoming Egyptian market.

Demand from the latter country is tied to an expanding poultry industry, said Andrew Larson, director of public policy and market development for the Illinois Soybean Association.

“Egypt went from a smaller buyer to the

Cannabis plants grow in an LED lit room at Cresco Labs cultivation center in Lincoln, Tuesday, August 3, 2021. because they’re anticipating that at the federal level, ultimately it will be legalized. And they will be buying licenses from those smaller entrepreneurs. Now, probably will happen in the state of Illinois, first with those people who can gain access to licenses, but ultimately, I think that that’s the end of the industry is: You’re going to DAVID PROEBER, THE PANTAGRAPH‌ see these big companies come in and purchase many licenses because they have that A worker retrieves pure THC in an extraction facility inside Cresco Labs cultivation center available cash.” in Lincoln.

number 3 overall customer for exports,” Larson said.

That’s a tremendous jump driven by domestic crush growth — Egyptian companies looking to take full soybeans, process them and use the meal for poultry and Larson aquaculture.”

U.S. soybean exports to Egypt totaled $1.47 billion in 2020, up 48 percent from 2019, according to the USDA. Soybean exports to China also increased 77 percent from 2019 to $14.15 billion in 2020.

Soy exports for 2020 also saw steady figures in the European, Mexican and Japanese markets.

“Pakistan is growing, Bangladesh is showing potential, Vietnam as well. These are all markets that have populations growing their income each year and have a middle class looking for higher quality protein,” Larson said.

Ethanol demand impacted by pandemic ‌ The increased global demand for soybeans and corn is also driven by an interest in biofuels, both Larson and Watters said.

But that interest — and profits from it — was negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, which was responsible for temporary closures at some domestic plants and overall a reduced demand for

all fuel types because less people were on U.S. roads.

“Because ethanol demand is so closely linked to motor fuel demand, when (motor) fuel demand fell off ethanol demand fell off too,” Watters explained. “It was a global downturn.”

Major ethanol buyers like Brazil, South Korea and The Philippines combined in 2020 imported 77 percent less than in 2019.

Those drops were offset by massive buys from Canada ($594 million) the European Union ($288 million) and Mexico ($119 million), meaning the U.S. exported a total of $2.3 billion in ethanol in 2020.

Watters said Illinois ethanol producers did feel the burden of reduced demand, with some plants idling their operations and others cutting back their production to half-capacity.

“But with this summer being a big travel year, things have been better for the Illinois ethanol industry,” Watters said. “Last year was definitely a bad year, but this year is way better.”

Input costs remain inflated ‌

she purchased what she needs for next year’s crop before she planted this year’s crop.

But if current boosted commodity prices remain, Hastings said she and other farmers will “feel it in our pocket books the most (because) as some prices rise any company is going to increase their prices to try to get some of that profit.”

Hastings, who also runs a grain bin installation business, is most concerned about lingering inflated steel prices and bottlenecks in shipping routes.

“Things aren’t quite soaring as bad as in 2020, but the price now is more than double than usual,” Hastings said. In December steel for a standard bin cost $2 per bushel.

Now it costs more than $4 per bushel.

If current economic dynamics persist, Hastings said she and other Illinois farmers will “start feeling some tightening of the purse strings a little.”

Hastings said that anticipated budgeting is especially frustrating because even with high commodity prices and good outlooks for harvest, farmers can’t bet on a stable market once they’re ready to sell.

“It’s really stressful and tough that after seasons of bad weather you finally get in that sweet spot for what your crop needs,” Hastings said. “And then you have economic factors to deal with too.”

While the output side of corn and soybean growing has improved in the last two years, the input side remains a challenge for Central Illinois producers. Fertilizer and equipment prices are still high, and materials remain in short supply.

Hastings said she’s less anxious about Contact Timothy Eggert at (309) 820-3276. elevated seed and fertilizer prices because Follow him on Twitter: @TimothyMEggert

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Greenhouse gets new life Grant to advance agriculture program at Normal Community KELSEY WATZNAUER

kelsey.watznauer@lee.net‌

NORMAL — Peter Metivier pulled a crooked carrot from the garden at Normal Community High School this summer, shocked by how much it had grown.

“We should eat it,” he said, after marveling with his fellow agriculture students under the July sun.

Agriscience teacher and FFA adviser Liz Harris said it was Metivier’s excitement and curiosity that led her to secure a $10,000 grant this year to renovate the school’s rundown greenhouse.

“When he came in his freshman year, he’s like ‘Hey, what’s this thing out here? … Why don’t we have anything out here?’” Harris said of the structure attached to the back of her classroom, leading outside to the school garden.

Metivier, a junior, said before he graduates, “We’re going to get this thing working.”

Now in her eighth year leading the agriculture program at Normal Community, Harris submitted her vision for the greenhouse — “Making a (Green)house a Home” — to the Beyond the Books Educational Foundation and was selected for the largest grant award offered for 2021-22, known as Beyond the Box. The grant funds were released late in the summer and Harris said the renovations will begin with maintenance, since the greenhouse only has one working fan and no functional heater.

“I don’t know that that will take a lot of time as much as resources, which the grant is really helpful for that,” she said.

Junior Cathleen Hacker said she’s excited for the hands-on element the greenhouse will offer once they can use it properly.

“For one, it is really fun and being able to do things hands-on is a lot different than what you can do in your other classes because your other classes just are mainly working online or in textbooks,” she said. “But this you get to do hands-on and for future ag generations, they’ll be able to do it hands-on and it’s really important to learn that way because you’re able to see things that you normally wouldn’t be able to see.”

DAVID PROEBER PHOTOS, THE PANTAGRAPH‌

Normal Community FFA students Peter Metivier, 16, Amelia Rodriguez, 17, and Cathleen Hacker, 15, check the progress of carrots growing in the school garden as FFA teacher Liz Harris looks on.

The greenhouse renovation is just one element of the expanding agriculture program at NCHS. A new teacher and FFA adviser, Jennifer Stone, joined the roster this year after student-teaching with Harris last year.

“It’s really nice already getting to know some of the kids coming into it, so I think that’s a huge plus, but we’ve also had a ton more students sign up for the program so it should be fun to meet a whole new kind of group of kids as well,” she said.

Harris said the ag program has grown from about 70 students to 250 signed up this year.

Metivier said he’s noticed more and more interest in ag, even the remote events held last year.

“People who I never thought would take an ag class are now taking an ag class, too,” Please see GREENHOUSE, Page 10

Liz Harris, left, plans the renovation of the school’s greenhouse with FFA students Cathleen Hacker, 15, and Amelia Rodriguez, 17.

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Not your grandfather’s FFA Organization continues to evolve, attract variety of members DONNETTE BECKETT

donnette.beckett@lee.net‌

CENTRAL ILLINOIS — This is not your father’s Future Farmers of America.

Today’s FFA welcomes all students ready to learn skills for a career, or just life.

“It’s very different than it was 30 years ago, whereas every kid was from a farming background or grew up on a farm,” said Jaton Shaffer.

“It’s definitely transitioned from that.”

Shaffer, a Blue Ridge 2021 graduate, is currently the FFA Illinois vice president.

He came from a standard agriculture background, having grown up on a farm Shaffer with corn and soybeans near Farmer City.

His father and grandfather both participated in FFA as high-schoolers.

“However, even in the small town of Farmer City, I believe I’m only one of four or five members that came from what we would consider a typical agriculture background,” Shaffer said. “Whereas most of our members found some way to be involved in

Greenhouse From 8

the organization, whether that was because they enjoyed the opportunity to participate in a competition, meet new friends, or they just enjoyed that comradery and that family atmosphere.”

“We’re not all going to go back to the family farm,” said Maxwell Berry, Maroa-Forsyth High School student and Section 16 president.

Berry was not raised on a farm, but appreciates his responsibility to advocate for similar students. His grandfather was an FFA member as a high school student many years ago as well as his sister more recently.

“I saw how much it helped her grow as a person,” Berry said. “I said. ‘I want that.’ I want that experience to become better as a person and as an individual.”

According to Berry, approximately 20 percent of his FFA chapter does not have agriculture experience.

“But we live in the middle of a corn field, so we grew up seeing the harvesting season and the lovely smell of corn,” he said. “We get to live and experience agriculture in its purest form. We can still tell you what a tractor is, but not everyone can.”

Although FFA has changed, its roots have not.

“Our organization is at the base of agriculture, and that will never change,” Berry said.

Approximately 30 years ago, the name of the organization was changed slightly, from Future Farmers of America to simply the Na-

tional FFA organization.

“The focus of the students involved in FFA did transition from people that were going to become farmers to people that were going to be in agriculture,” Shaffer said.

Careers span across several areas, including agronomist, seed sales, marketing, commodities and others.

“There’s just this insane variety of jobs within the agriculture field,” Shaffer said.

“Those jobs became more prevalent, especially as we approached the ‘90s and now in the 2000s. A very small percentage of people involved in agriculture actually work on a farm.”

The organization isn’t just for the guys, either. Women became allowed to join FFA in 1969, according to the FFA archives.

Jacalyn Meisner was Shaffer’s FFA adviser at Blue Ridge High School. She has watched the rise in numbers of FFA members since she began her job six years ago. “And it’s not just in those local, rural communities, but across the state in urban areas as well,” she said.

Meisner teaches a variety of agriculture subjects, including ag business, plant and animal sciences, mechanics, communication and leadership skills, horticulture and others.

“There are several careers that they can go into that span a wide range of abilities,” she said. “But there’s also real-life skills. We teach them about budgeting, time manage-

ment, and how to communicate.”

The students’ success is dependent on the level of participation, according to the advisers. Competitions range in categories, including individuals competing in a job interview contest or a group competing in parliamentary proceedings.

Meisner said s she doesn’t have to persuade many of the students to join the agriculture organization.

“I just tell them we are a leadership organization that supports agriculture,” she said.

“If you like eating, if you like wearing clothes, that is all agricultural-based.”

According to Meisner, much of the encouragement comes from the members themselves. “We have a lot of fun and the kids really see that,” she said. “But we get things done.”

Unlike other members of his chapter, Shaffer had to be persuaded. “They literally chased him down,” Meisner said. “And he became our chapter treasurer by his sophomore year.”

Shaffer will spend the next year serving as the state’s FFA vice president. Afterward he plans to attend the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign to study agriculture and consumer economics.

“We take a gap year as part of our year of service for the organization,” he said.‌ Contact Donnette Beckett at (217) 421-6983.

Follow her on Twitter: @donnettebHR

or have any experience with animals, so this gives that opportunity without having to grow up on a farm,” she said.

Senior Amelia Rodriguez said she’s really looking forward to seeing the pig and using the greenhouse “because it’s my last year I just really want to make the biggest impact I can while I’m still here.”

After maintenance, the agriculture classes will start by producing plants that will later be planted in the garden on the east side of the school.

“I’m thinking tomatoes would be a good idea there,” Harris said. “At some point we might also do some flowering plants that we could sell to the public, but I think that’s probably going to be another year before we’re able to do that.”

he said. “It’s growing, it’s convenient and it’s a science credit, but also there’s just so much more to agriculture than just production agriculture and farming.”

The school also is partnering with Heartland Community College to offer a dual credit animal husbandry class — a sign of significant progress for the program since Harris started and she met a student who didn’t know the difference between a sheep and a goat.

As part of the new class, Harris plans to bring in a pig from her family’s farm and give students the opportunity to see a live birth this winter inside the greenhouse.

“Obviously in our community we don’t Contact Kelsey Watznauer at (309) 820-3254. have a lot of students who grow up on farms Follow her on Twitter: @kwatznauer.

DAVID PROEBER, THE PANTAGRAPH‌

Normal Community FFA student Peter Metivier, 16, inspects the growth of sweet corn in the school’s garden, Wednesday, July 21, 2021.

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Beekeepers feed local sweet tooth Arthur group offers opportunity to share ideas, solutions ATHENA PAJER

athena.pajer@lee.net‌

ARTHUR — The good news is, local honey is easier to find as beekeeping becomes more popular in Central Illinois.

The bad news: Beekeeping is not getting any easier.

“It used to be, if you had bees, you had honey,” said Joe Kauffman, who has been raising bees for decades. “Now, you might have bees and you might have honey.”

One of the main threats are Varroa mites, also known as the “Varroa Destroyer.” These are parasites that attach themselves to bees.

If left untreated, they can cause enough disturbance to kill the hive.

They have been in the area for most of the 21st century, said Kauffman, who started beekeeping before the mites reached the area.

Pesticides, and even herbicides, can also threaten beehives, said Michelle Tague, apiary inspector for Region 6 with the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

Tague makes trips throughout the region, which stretches from Macon and Piatt counties in the north to Jefferson and Wayne counties in the south. She helps look for signs of Varroa mites and other maladies that might harm bees–and possibly spread to other hives.

“I’m not the bee police,” said Tague. “I’m not here to take bees away.”

Tague actually loves bees, and knows a

ATHENA PAJER, JOURNAL GAZETTE & TIMES-COURIER‌

John Durbin with Arthur Beekeepers “uncaps” honey from a frame by cutting into honeycomb capsules to release the honey thing or two about them, too.

“If your bees make it through the winter, don’t die, and you’re having some production in whatever area you want — whether you’re getting more bees or you’re harvesting honey or whatever your goal is with your hive — you’re doing it correctly,” said Tague.

That’s why Arthur Beekeepers, a local organization, meets on the first Monday of every month at 6:30 p.m. at the Arthur United Methodist Church. The group has around 50 members with about a dozen coming to each meeting.

During their meetings, they take time to

swap ideas, solutions, share news, and even come up with ways to practice community service.

“We knew that a lot of our older Amish are fellow beekeepers,” said James Marshall with Arthur Beekeepers, “So, in case they (firefighters) ever have to go to their houses, they’ll have bee suits in the ambulances.”

During its August meeting, members spent time uncapping and collecting honey.

“Uncapping” is the process through which honey is freed from the frames.

“The way I sell my honey, they call it raw honey,” John Durbin said. “It’s not heated, it’s not pasteurized, it’s not anything.”

Normally, the honey bought in grocery stores is collected by heating it to 160 degrees, which makes it runnier and easier to collect. However, it’s the raw honey that is growing in popularity.

Mervin Miller suspects honey is in high demand because of it helps with sinus issues.

“Right now with people into organic food and vegan (diets) and all of those sorts of things, I think you see it more,” said Tague.

Raw, local honey can be an allergy remedy. Those who ingest honey consume local pollen in a manageable way, helping the bodies become immune to it.

“I think you’ll find, if you ask all of these guys (beekeepers), we all have at least one person who just wants our honey because they have allergies,” said Tague, who also keeps an apiary.

The group raises funds by selling beeswax candles and honey throughout the local area, including the Arthur Strawberry Festival. They will also have a tent at the Arthur cheese festival, too.

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FARM FOCUS

CLAY JACKSON PHOTOS, HERALD & REVIEW‌

Left: Richland Community College Horticulture Instructor Deanna Koenigs waters flowers and peppers that will be used at Bistro Five Thirty-Seven and for sale at the farmers market.

Right: Erzsebet Getz is a student in the horticulture program and the greenhouse assistant at Richland Community College. “We propagate houseplants, I keep track of the watering and fertilizing schedule, I help make up what we sell at the market, different designs for houseplants and succulents,” she said.

Getting their hands dirty Richland’s ag programs offer a variety of student opportunities VALERIE WELLS

valerie.wells@lee.net‌

DECATUR — Students in Richland Community College’s horticulture program do more than grow vegetables to sell at the weekly farmers market.

Chef Brian Tucker chooses one or two items a week for a special dish to serve at the Bistro Five Thirty-Seven. Four plots are devoted to Good Samaritan Inn, which runs the college food pantry for students in need.

And students who like getting their hands dirty learn skills they can take to an employer or use to start their own business.

“I do a little bit of everything here,” said Erzsebet Getz, a student in the horticulture program and the greenhouse assistant. “We propagate houseplants, I keep track of the watering and fertilizing schedule, I help make up what we sell at the market, different designs for houseplants and succulents. In the spring we have our Mother’s Day plant sale, so from January up until the

sale, it’s full production of getting seedlings or anywhere, any job that’s going to be instarted and germinated and transplanting volved in ag, having an understanding (of agriculture) is valuable.” them and getting them ready for sale.”

Getz said she has a lifelong love of plants Richland agriculture students are enand how important they are. They’re nec- couraged to be active learners outside essary for food, but it’s also the joy of being the classroom as well, he said. Students around living things and having what she are encouraged to acquire agricultural calls a “hands in the dirt experience.” part-time jobs or internships and to par“There’s so many different, wonderful ticipate in other leadership development areas you can go into as far as agriculture opportunities. Students participate in Iland horticulture,” linois Professional Getz said. “I’m Stu“There’s so many different, Agriculture dent competitions hoping that I’ll find wonderful areas you can go and have attended something that will be the right fit.” into as far as agriculture and Agriculture Future of America events One in four jobs in Illinois and one in horticulture. I’m hoping that which improve their five jobs nationally I’ll find something that will c o m m u n i c a t i o n are in an agriculskills, enhance their be the right fit.” ture-related field, technical skills, said Jess Smithers, build their leaderErzsebet Getz, a student in the horticulture ship capacity, and director of agriculprogram and the greenhouse assistant develop relationtural programs at ships through netRichland.

“There are opportunities for anyone,” he working opportunities. said. “Ag is so broad that students can find, The program was re-launched in August whatever their interests are, they’ll find a 2018 and consists of an Associate in Arts/ home in agriculture. It’s a big industry, so Science degree and Associate in Applied no matter what they do, whether in Illinois Science degrees in agribusiness, crop sci-

ence and horticulture. Students graduating with an Associate in Arts or Science degree with a concentration in agriculture may transfer to the University of Illinois, Illinois State University, Southern Illinois University, Western Illinois University and other in- or out-of-state universities. The campus includes more than 120 acres of farmland, hosts the Farm Progress Show every other year, and is in the agribusiness capital of the world, all of which enable the agriculture program to meet its mission of exposing, preparing and connecting students to careers in agriculture.

Demi Striglos has a degree in agricultural communications, but decided she also wanted to learn more about horticulture and possible career paths, she said.

“I took my first horticulture class last spring and I really enjoyed it, and I really enjoyed (instructor) Deanna (Koenigs) and the experience,” Striglos said.

That led to the vegetable production class this summer, which just wrapped up, and that allowed her to gain experience manning a booth at Richland’s farmers market, and she found that to be one of her most Please see RICHLAND, Page 18

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From roadside weed to cash crop Pennycress evolution could be game-changer for agriculture, climate KADE HEATHER

kade.heather@lee.net‌

BLOOMINGTON — A weed that Central Illinoisans see along roadways, at the edges of fields or at construction sites has been domesticated in Central Illinois into a crop that researchers say has the potential to help combat climate change and provide additional income to farmers.

The high-protein seed oil that derives from the pennycress plant, with genetic modifications, has a plethora of environmental positives. It can be converted to biofuels for airplanes, feedstock, detergents, lubricants and more.

Agronomists and geneticists at Illinois State University, Western Illinois University and the University of Minnesota, with help from other institutions and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are working to convince farmers that the genetically-modified version of pennycress, dubbed covercress, is a worthwhile plant that can be a cover crop and a second cash crop for farmers to grow from the fall until spring.

It would act as any other cover crop that absorbs and stores precious nutrients in the winter, said ISU professor of soil science Rob Rhykerd, “but the cool thing about pennycress is that we can use the seed to help produce these renewable fuels.”

“This can be a multi-billion-dollar a year new crop here when it gets established,” said Dr. John Sedbrook, ISU professor of genetics.

Sedbrook was a leader in modifying pennycress’ DNA to allow its seed oil to become identical to canola oil using a technology called CRISPR gene editing.

He said most of the credit goes to Terry Isbell, a researcher at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Peoria, who noticed pennycress growing alongside the road and thought to research its viabilities as an al-

DAVID PROEBER PHOTOS, THE PANTAGRAPH‌

Above: Illinois State University masters degree candidate Bethany Wohrley of Mendota, left, and Professor Rob Rhykerd pull soil samples from a soybean field that had previously been planted with pennycress, foreground, at the ISU Farm. The samples will help determine what levels of nutrients are taken up and released from the cover crop.

Inset: A core of a soil sample is measured as researchers study pennycress at the ISU Farm. ternative crop.

“Essentially it’s been sitting on the sidelines waiting to be a crop and we’ve just helped it along here,” Sedbrook said. “Just as a weed, it’s got agronomic traits that are quite attractive. It produces a lot of seeds and those seeds have about 33% oil content and about 20% protein, so just as a weed it has a good start.”

The genetic modifications reduced the seed’s fiber content, which increased its oil and protein contents further and allowed it to become edible. It resulted in a more golden-colored seed, compared to the weed’s dark brown seeds.

Sedbrook said he used a similar method from the 1960s that converted rapeseed into canola oil, but with newer technology. Two

important steps contributed to the conversion: a mutation that reduced erucic acid content in the oil, making the oil edible, and another that reduced glucosinolate content, which is a defense compound that gives the protein and oil a bitter taste, he said.

At the same time, investors in St. Louis realized this change in the pennycress plant and began a startup company called CoverCress, which is working to commercialize the new plant derived from pennycress, now called covercress.

The company will have its soft commercial launch this fall for the first-generation covercress crop in Arenzville, about 50 miles west of Springfield.

The initial crop will be used to feed poultry.

Along with venture capital money CoverCress has received, ISU and the partnering

universities received two five-year grants: $10 million from the USDA and $13 million from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Sedbrook said the USDA grant’s goal is to help commercialize the crop and the DOE grant is designed to develop the subsequent generations of the crop.

Environmental benefits‌

The DOE grant also aims to improve the crop’s stress resilience.

“You know from climate change here the weather is just all over the place. This is a weird summer,” Sedbrook said, pointing to the high rainfalls and cooler weather in Central Illinois, a drought in Minnesota, and the heat dome and wildfires in the Pacific Northwest.

Please see PENNYCRESS, Page 18

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FARM FOCUS

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FARM FOCUS

Richland From 14

favorite things, she said.

Koenigs recently gave tours to Decatur Public School students who are interested in the program, and explained to them that agricultural crops are typically grown on a larger scale, dried, stored and shipped

Pennycress From 16

“The goal we have is to find genetics that will improve the stress resilience so that covercress the crop can handle these big swings in weather. This is going to be an ongoing project,” Sedbrook said.

Not only will the seed’s oil be used for biofuels to help combat climate change, but the crop itself can help capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and absorb nitrates and phosphates in agricultural runoff.

After fall harvesting, bits of chemicals applied throughout the growing season — especially nitrogen and phosphorus — are left over in the field.

in bulk, while horticulture is vegetables, fruits, nursery plants, trees and shrubs.

“We say the definition of horticulture is crops that help provide food, comfort and beautification,” she said.

“The agriculture program staff is actively involved with the high school agricultural programs and FFA chapters within our district,” Smithers said. “For example, we host several FFA events on campus annually and

volunteer to judge multiple FFA competitions throughout the year.”

All of the high schools in Macon County now have ag programs, after a span of years in which those programs weren’t available.

“It’s very positive as far as all the high schools in Macon County within Richland’s district have ag now,” Smithers said.

“They’re being exposed to those opportunities in ag, and it’s more feasible for those

students to be exposed to it and develop that interest in a job in ag. It’s a way to make a difference. If a student wants to have a career in agriculture, there’s nothing more important than food, growing and producing and processing the food we consume each day.”

Cover crops are planted during fall to absorb the leftover nutrients and store them throughout the winter into spring, stopping them from leaching into surface waterways.

Those nutrients held in the cover crop then act as another fertilizer for the next season’s crop — usually corn or soybeans.

Covercress also will help increase the soil’s organic matter and fertility, and reduce erosion.

“When a rain drop hits bare soil surface, it detaches soil particles, and then if you get more water coming down running off the field, it’ll erode the soil,” Rhykerd said.

But if a plant is there instead, the vegetation absorbs the rain drop’s energy and the water trickles into the soil rather than washing off the surface and taking soil with it.

Farmer interest‌

to attract and educate farmers about it.

“So far I would say it’s been slow,” Rhykerd said. “I think demonstrating that pennycress can be profitable will really help.”

Sedbrook said the USDA project, called IPREFER, includes education and outreach efforts. He said they have booths set up at different county fairs.

He said after CoverCress’s soft launch this fall, the company plans to expand and begin extracting oil from the crop’s seed for future development.

“Within two or three years they want to be on over 10 to 20,000 acres and keep growing from there,” Sedbrook said. “It’s a process to get it established, but the market is there, so there certainly is incentive to get this to work.”

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A University of Tennessee study surveyed farmers and found that about 58 percent of them were interested in growing covercress if it is profitable.

Farmers’ concerns about growing the crop lay within the lack of knowledge of how to grow covercress, as well as the use of no-till practices, which require mechanical agitation of the soil.

The study said the tipping point at which growing the crop becomes more appealing to farmers is at about 1,500 pounds of seed per acre, which would come out to be about $75 per acre.

Rhykerd said it has been difficult to get farmers to buy in to growing the new crop. He said ISU has field days at its farm in Lexington

Contact Valerie Wells at (217) 421-7982.

Follow her on Twitter: @modgirlreporter

Friday, August 27, 2021 | 19

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