Reduce mowing to save monarchs

A coalition of scientists and 11 organizations and agencies in Illinois wants landowners to mow with pollinators in mind this year.

The Illinois Monarch Project Mowing Guidance outlines recommendations on mowing practices that best protect pollinators as they migrate through or live out their lives in Illinois. There is also a more detailed document called “Mowing on the Farm” with agricultural specifics.

“The IMP has been working very hard on articulating a long-range conservation plan for the monarch butterfly,” says Lyndsey Ramsey, Illinois Farm Bureau associate director of natural and environmental resources. “This guide is the first work product of the IMP Science Committee and came in response to a lot of questions from farmers and the agriculture sector about how they can mow better to support pollinators.”

The Science Committee is comprised of biology and conservation experts that support the IMP in developing appropriate and effective conservation practices that will improve Illinois for monarch butterflies and other pollinators, in addition to other wildlife that benefit from the same habitat.

Some of the main mowing concepts proposed by the Science Committee include:

View both mowing guidance documents at ilfb.org/MowingOnTheFarm.

IFB holds events to prepare for Illinois River closure

The Illinois Farm Bureau will host a series of five meetings in July and August to discuss the impacts of the planned closures on the Illinois Waterway System.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to close and repair six locks on the Illinois River in 2020. Most of the construction will be done between July 1 and Oct. 31 to avoid spring flooding season and fall harvest.

Meetings will present construction timelines, transportation shifts, marketing, basis and crop storage.

Meetings are free, and IFB asks farmers to register with their county Farm Bureau office. Dates are scheduled across the state:

Soil health meetings geared toward women landowners

American Farmland Trust, in collaboration with the Women, Food and Agriculture Network, is hosting two women’s meetings on soil health this summer in northern Illinois.

AFT calls them “Women Caring for the Land” learning circles and says they will provide women the opportunity to meet other landowners, share farm successes and challenges, discuss land goals, and get conservation help. 

Meeting locations are: