by: Brooke Jarvis
Illinois, home to 76,000 farms and more than 950 food manufacturing companies, is a solidly agricultural state in the heart of America’s bread basket. Fully 80 percent of it is farmland. But, of all the food eaten in Illinois, only four percent is actually grown there.
Vast quantities of food are exported to other states and nations, while similarly vast quantities are brought in to feed Illinois’ citizens. It’s a costly arrangement that leaves too many people without enough access to healthy fruits and vegetables.
Continue reading Can a Farm State Feed Itself?