Illinois FFA President, Franklin Native Pushing For Line Item Increase For Ag Education

By Benjamin Cox on March 19, 2024 at 6:16am

Illinois FFA President Thaddeus Bergschneider of Franklin is making the most out of his last few months in office. Bergschneider spent Illinois Ag Legislative Day last week in Springfield lobbying General Assembly members to increase line item money for ag education. Bergschneider tells RFD Illinois that he’s seen remarkable growth in schools’ ag education and […]

February Weather

By Gary Scott on March 3, 2024 at 6:46am

A near record setting temperature last month will make February of 2024 one of the warmest Februarys ever in Jacksonville. The average reading was 40 and a half degrees. That’s 10 degree hotter than normal. A typical high last month was 54, and a low 27. We set record high readings on the 2nd, 22nd, […]

IL Farm Bureau, Bipartisan Legislators Unveil New Estate Tax Revamp

By Benjamin Cox on February 1, 2024 at 11:47am

The Illinois Farm Bureau was joined by a bipartisan group of lawmakers today in Bloomington to unveil new legislation to improve Illinois’ estate tax At the Bloomington home office of the farm bureau, House Bill 4600 was introduced as a way to protect heritage farms by updating the tax code. The bipartisan piece of legislation […]

Budzinski’s Fight for a Bi-Partisan Farm Bill

By Benjamin Cox on January 30, 2024 at 1:28pm

13th District Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski says the ongoing budget fight in Washington is standing in the way of a bipartisan compromise on a new Farm Bill being passed. The government’s funding is on a continuing resolution until early March. The country is still operating under the 2018 Farm Bill, and will operate under its continued […]

JWCC’s Taylor Wins National Champion Honors in Denver Carload Livestock Competitions

By Benjamin Cox on January 29, 2024 at 2:18pm

A Murrayville John Wood Community College student has won the National Championship in the Denver Carload livestock competition. First-year student Emma Taylor won the contest at the National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado this past week. Taylor was the winner out of 123 participants from 28 schools from across the country. The participants were […]

November Weather

By Gary Scott on December 2, 2023 at 9:34am

It was a warmer than normal November, but very dry. The precipitation total came to just 3-quarters of an inch. Normal rainfall for November is 3 and two thirds inches. The driest November Jacksonville has ever had was 23 hundredths in 1933. The wettest day was just a half inch of rain on the 21st. […]

Budzinski Talks Good & Bad of Farm Bill Extension

By Benjamin Cox on November 20, 2023 at 1:32pm

13th District Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski voted with moderate Republicans and the Democrat minority in the House of Representatives to pass an extension to the 2018 Farm Bill this week. The fate of the Farm Bill has remained uncertain since its expiration at the end of September until Speaker of the House Mike Johnson included an […]

Budzinski Announces Ag Research Funding Increase Bill at U of I Roundtable

By Benjamin Cox on August 30, 2023 at 8:38am

13th District Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski has announced legislation that would increase funding for the first time in several decades in the agricultural research sector. Budzinski announced the America Grows Act at a round table at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with the Farm Journal Foundation on Monday. The America Grows Act would require a five […]

July Heat

By Gary Scott on August 2, 2023 at 6:30am

The heat was on last month, but not at a record level. The average temperature last month was nearly 75 and a half degrees. That’s just 6-tenths of a degree higher than normal. One only needs to look to last year for a hotter July, when the average was 75 and a half degrees. Typical […]

Roderick Tapped to Lead Mid-America Port Commission

By Benjamin Cox on July 26, 2023 at 3:32pm

A retired local farm bureau executive has been tapped for a new position. The Journal Courier reports that former Pike-Scott Farm Bureau Executive Director Blake Roderick has been elected chairman of the Mid-America Port Commission. The commission is the largest port district on the upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers. It covers a three-state, 26-county region […]