The tour will begin at Ron and Angie Ackerman's farm near Chenoa, IL. Ron and Angie Ackerman grow a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs on the same small central Illinois farm where Ron grew up. After a three-year stint as an missionary in Viet Nam, Ron returned to Illinois with an new wife and a desire to farm. Instead of pursuing the large conventional grain operation like those he was surrounded by, Ron stayed small and diversified, and organic. Angie had not grown up on a farm, but took to it with enthusiasm. At first, she just wanted to grow the herbs she was used to cooking with in her native country, but she found a strong interest for these and many other things at the farmers markets where she and Ron sell. At the Ackerman farm you'll see how to work with what you've got, use diversity and local markets to create a productive and profitable farm that grows fresh, healthy food sold directly to local people.

Ben Meister and his family have been farming around Fairbury, Illinois forever. About eight years ago, Ben started looking at organic. His landowner started giving him things to read and encouraging him to transition 600 rented acres. He finally decided to try it on a field of corn. His organic field the first year yielded 180 bushels versus 200 bushels from his conventional fields. Convinced he could make it work, Ben transitioned all his fields. Weed control is an issue in organic crops and many times organic fields stand out because of the weeds. Not so with Ben's fields. They are clean. If you've shied away from organic because you just don't think you can tolerate the weeds, come to Ben's farm and see how he does it. You'll be impressed.

Lunch will be served. A $15 per person registration fee will be charged. Follow the instructions below. Each person must register individually.

To register, click HERE.

The tour will start at 10:05 a.m. at the Ackerman farm. Lunch will be served at 12:15 at Ben Meister's farm.

Contact Dan Anderson (aslan@uiuc.edu) or Duane Baker (mofc-duane@verizon.net) for more information.

Directions to the Ackerman farm...

From Chenoa, IL, take Division St. south out of town. Look for the Organic Field Day signs. Stay on Division and follow the signs approximately 1.8 miles to the Ackerman farm on the East side of the road. To see a map, click HERE.  Directions to the Meister farm will be handed out at the field day.