The Association of Illinois Soil & Water Conservation Districts (AISWCD) is pleased to announce the selection of Eliot Clay as its new Executive Director. Clay, a seasoned policy leader with deep expertise in agriculture, conservation and environmental issues, brings a wealth of experience to the organization. Clay comes to the AISWCD from the Illinois Environmental... Continue reading→

The Illinois Soil & Water Conservation District Employee Association honored Josh Joseph of the Peoria County Soil & Water Conservation District with this year’s Outstanding District Employee of the Year at the association’s winter training conference Dec. 4 in Springfield. Josh has been with the Peoria SWCD for 25 years and some very nice words... Continue reading→

The call from the bank came at noon on Friday. “Did you guys request to add someone to all your accounts as a signatory?” That one phone call from Matt Hamilton, a relationship banker at American Community Bank & Trust in Woodstock, was the final check that worked, keeping hackers from draining the accounts of... Continue reading→

On Thursday, November 21, the Will County Board adopted a resolution urging creation of a systems approach for increasing the supply of “locally produced/processed foods to complement global supply chains that may be disrupted in emergency events.” Will County Board Chair Judy Ogalla (R-Monee) spearheaded passage of the resolution.  The sole farmer on Will County’s... Continue reading→

The Illinois Department of Agriculture announced application details of the 2025 Fall Covers for Spring Savings Cover Crop Incentive Program. Pre-enrollment opens 8am Wednesday December 4 and final submissions will be accepted starting 8am Monday December 16.  A total of 190,000 acres are available (of which 40,000 acres are thanks to Illinois’ participation in the... Continue reading→

Ashley Curran, Grants Manager for the Association of Illinois Soil & Water Conservation Districts, sends an update on grants the association is working on in service of our local SWCDs and our efforts towards healthy soil and cleaner water . . .  NRCS-SWCD Contribution Agreement Extension – FY25 is off to a good start. Most...

The University of Illinois Springfield’s Sangamon Experience features a two-year documentary project by Rich Saal telling the stories of 10 individuals who have spent their lives farming in the Sangamon River Valley. You can see a trailer of the presentation on YouTube, and more details on the project on the Soil & Soul webpage.  Farmers... Continue reading→

The Kane-DuPage Soil & Water Conservation District held the second installment of their Women in Agriculture networking and educational series Friday November 1, 2024 in Kane County. About 30 people gathered for an opportunity to learn about starting or expanding an agriculture business or farm and to network. This event was hosted by Kelly Burke,... Continue reading→

By Ryan Arch  “What’s in it for me?” It’s a fair question, isn’t it? And I can tell you as an executive director of an Association for 9 years, it’s also a question I get fairly often. While the short answer is “more than you can imagine,” I’ll do my best to share the details... Continue reading→

The AISWCD Forestry Committee and Illinois Extension 4-H are partnering again for a fourth year of statewide tree planting to take place in the spring of 2025. This effort continues to utilize the strengths of the statewide network of Illinois Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the educational and youth development of University of Illinois... Continue reading→