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Host a Soil Health Week Session or Apply for an Infrastructure Grant

  • Writer: Bob Benenson
    Bob Benenson
  • Feb 5
  • 3 min read

Opportunity Reminders from Illinois Stewardship Alliance



Illinois Stewardship Alliance — the state's premier policy advocate for the local food and farm communities — has shared reminders about a fast-approaching deadline to host a Soil Health Week event in early March, and the opening of applications for the new round of grants from the Illinois Local Food Infrastructure Grant program.



ILLINOIS SOIL HEALTH WEEK


Protecting and regenerating the Illinois' vital soils is crucial to the well-being of farmers, eaters and the state's economy. That is the reason why we have an annual Soil Health Week, organized by Illinois Stewardship Alliance, which this year is being held March 2-8.


It will be a week packed with informative and impactful virtual and live events, all focused on how important healthy soils are to building and sustaining a healthy food system.


If you would be interested in hosting an event, applications are still open — but only through the deadline next Monday (February 9).



Valerie Wolfe, the Alliance's Soil Health Week coordinator, shared the following details:


Events can take many forms—field days, farm walks, workshops, panels, or community conversations, both in person or virtual. 


I am excited to help support your ideas with coordination and promotion. 


Here is what you can expect as an event host: 


  • The Alliance will offer our support with marketing by making frequent posts, sharing your unique sign up form, and adding your event to a Soil Health Week Event Calendar.

  • An online registration form will automatically generate for you once your event is approved based on the information you share in your proposal.

  • You are responsible for sharing your event registration and staying in communication with registrants to your event. 

  • We will share your logo and social media handles in our marketing.

  • You will receive a marketing toolkit complete with tips and sample blurbs.


Illinois Soil Health Week is a celebration and call to action to protect one of the most valuable resources Illinois has. It continues to grow because of organizations and individuals like you who are committed to healthy soils, resilient farms, and strong rural and urban communities.


I hope you’ll consider joining the celebration to share your experience and inspire others by submitting a proposal.



As Local Food Forum previously reported, the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) announced on January 29 that it will distribute $3.6 million in this fiscal year to renew the Illinois Local Food Infrastructure Grant (LFIG) program, which was launched in 2024.


The program addresses one of the most crucial issues facing farmers in Illinois’ food system: a lack of critical infrastructure such as mills, food hubs, livestock processing facilities, refrigeration, trucking, and community kitchens to get food from their farms to the schools, institutions and communities that need it most. 


The legislation that initially authorized the LFIG program was enacted in 2023 and was one of the year's biggest legislative victories for Illinois Stewardship Alliance, the state's leading policy advocate for the local food and farm communities.


Here is the message about the grant application process by Alliance Executive Director Liz Stelk. Please note that the applications open on February 18 and close on March 27.



The new Local Food Infrastructure Grant Program will invest in critical infrastructure to scale up the processing, aggregation, and distribution of local food to meet the needs of Illinois communities. 

 

Farms, businesses, institutions, cooperatives, local governments, nonprofits and other entities working with local food will have the opportunity to apply for collaborative grants of up to $250,000 or individual projects up to $75,000 for infrastructure that will support value-added processing, livestock processing, milling, dairy, trucking, food hubs, community kitchens and other critical pieces of local food supply chains. 

 

The application opens on February 18th with funds distributed in June.  

 

There will be a required match unless the applicant can prove a high need condition. This grant is made possible with funding through the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

 

For more information and to start the pre- application process today, visit the Local Food Infrastructure Grant website.

 

Applications are due by March 27th, 2026.



 
 
 

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