Rural Illinois

Karen Stallman of SIU School of Medicine's Farm Family Resource Initiative shares how rural farm families are dealing with accelerating changes in rural life and provides a lifeline at 833-FARM-SOS.

Central Illinois 'Skip gen' farmer, Paul Butler, left his software engineering gig in STL to return to his grandfather's Macon County farm. Tech has changed things since he grew up on it in the 1970s.

Chris Merrett, Dir., Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs, shares a status of our rural areas, with postive and challenging developments as part of Community Voices effort to amplify rural voices.

COMMENTQ: What is the most important issue the General Assembly should address in the 2026 spring session? A: The development of a serious, long-term plan to invest in Downstate Illinois.

Districts finding creative solutions to persistent shortage

Chris Vallillo is a musician who combines history and sense of place in much of his work. Forgottonia is an Illinois Humanities Council funded performance project combining music and photography into a memorable take on western Illinois and rural places.

Illinois is in a precarious position when it comes to the 2020 census. The count determines congressional representation, and the state is at risk for…

Small internet service providers in Illinois are optimistic after the farm bill – which President Trump recently signed – included more money for…

A recent study completed by the Illinois Rural Health Summit Planning Committee found that 1.5 million Illinoisans who live in rural parts of Illinois…

Gary Smith has worked at the grain elevator at Okaw Farmer’s Co-op in Lovington, Illinois, for forty years. On his desk sit two computer screens, where he…