The Capacity Building Initiative promotes bottom-up agroecology, fostering sustainable innovation at the local level, and sharing progress through Agroecology + Innovation Matters (AIM) initiative communications.

The AIM project was initiated through a state/federal leveraged funded Capacity Building Initiative between the Illinois Department of Agriculture and the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Services (NRCS). Our 40 Conservation Planners and Coordinators aim to enhance soil health, reduce nutrient loss, maintain clean waters, and bolster the advancement of best conservation practices by collaborating with NRCS field offices, soil and water conservation districts, producers, and landowners across the state.

Our team strives to communicate best practices stories and provide educational resources for our community. AIM empowers producers and landowners to explore agroecology and innovative infield and edge of field practices like cover crops, conservation tillage, vegetated buffers, grassed waterways, prairie strips, and constructed wetlands.

RECENT NEWS

  • Farming that’s good for the ecology – and economy – of DeKalb County

    Farming that’s good for the ecology – and economy – of DeKalb County

    As with much of Illinois agriculture, DeKalb County’s most plentiful commodities are corn and soybeans, followed by hogs and beef cattle. But don’t forget the apple orchards. Or the dairy cattle, sheep, goats, and chickens. Or… Read more

  • STAR verification keeps farmers engaged in conservation

    STAR verification keeps farmers engaged in conservation

    STAR farmers make positive changes on their land, knowing greater soil productivity and resilience thanks to healthy soil is a better investment, said Collin Nye, one of the Conservation Planners who contributed to STAR verification. Nye… Read more

  • Northeast Illinois preserves welcoming conservation-minded farmers

    Northeast Illinois preserves welcoming conservation-minded farmers

    Consumer interest in where food comes from is accelerating a long-overdue meeting of the minds between conservationists, environmentalists, and farmers. Public landowners are helping by viewing their farm leases as “demonstration projects” to encourage adoption of… Read more

  • Farmer reveals his secret to top yields – conservation

    Farmer reveals his secret to top yields – conservation

    Dick Lyons, former Lincoln Land Community College and Illinois State University agriculture professor, had the highest yields in corn and wheat, and fourth highest in soybeans, during a census in 2018. Dick credits using no-till, cover… Read more

  • Becoming an agroecology educator

    Becoming an agroecology educator

    Agroecology educator Connie Kollmeyer of The Conservation Foundation. Suburbanites tend to think of agriculture as something that’s “far away”—vast fields in rural areas.  Or the “urban agriculture” phenomenon—vegetable patches popping up on vacant city lots. “I like… Read more